Matter of Choice
by sunnryder
Summary: Jim Kirk runs away to San Francisco to find out more about his father, makes friends with Spock, pisses off the Romulan Empire, and crashes head first into a destiny he's not sure he's ready for.  Friendship for now, eventually slash
1. Chapter 1

Jim Kirk buried his hands deeper into his pockets and tried to pretend that his shakes were from the chill of a late spring night, and not from fear. From an alley half a block away Jim watched the entrance to the Starfleet Academy Museum, staring up at the bright banner that proclaimed the opening of the new _Kelvin_ exhibit.

Months ago Jim had seen the announcement for the exhibit's grand opening, and every morning after he'd hacked his mother's comm account. He knew the Admiralty would send Winona an offer to come to the three day unveiling as a tribute to her husband, and Jim also knew that Winona would shoot them down without even bothering to ask her sons.

So after Winona had sent her usual abrupt rejection to headquarters, and Sam had refused to cooperate but wished him the best of luck, Jim had messaged back Starfleet and pretended to be his mother.

It was always more difficult than Jim expected to fake being Winona, despite his years of practice from forging school paperwork. After a few drafts Jim sent off a message as Winona respectfully reconsidering the Fleet's offer, and asking for one ticket, just in case. For months Jim had hidden that ticket in a nook under his floorboards, and kept from Frank that he was doing odd jobs all over Riverside to make enough money to buy a round trip shuttle ticket to San Francisco.

Despite the blinding excitement that had gotten Jim this far, it all bled away into terror now that he was actually here.

He'd been crouched in this alley for twenty minutes, watching both the Fleet brass in their perfect crimson uniforms and the Federation dignitaries wrapped in their finest climb the marble stairs to the museum. Jim looked down at the too big khaki pants he'd taken from his brother's closet, and the dirty dress shirt with thinned patched on his elbows and couldn't help feeling dejected.

Jim felt like a fool.

Half of the exhibit was dedicated to the life of George Kirk; filled with displays, holos, logs, and speeches, all trying to explain how destiny had made a captain who would trade his life for a ship that had only been his for twelve minutes. Ratty pants and a dirty shirt was _not_ how the son of a hero was supposed to look. He was supposed to be polished, and dignified, someone fitting to carry the Kirk name. Not a waif who looked like he belonged in a Dickens novel.

Jim had all but talked himself out even crossing the street, content to stand outside and watch the museum entrance from his hiding place, when Jim saw _him_. The man was tall, with broad shoulders, brown hair, and a warm smile. There wasn't much to set him apart from any other officer with a captain's stripes, except for how often Jim had stared at his picture over the last few months. Captain Christopher Pike was one of the main speakers of the opening, scheduled to speak on the life of George Kirk in the way only his best friend could. The pamphlets said Pike had known George since birth, knew everything about him, and most of the holos of George had come from Pike's own files.

Jim stared at Pike making his way up the steps, exchanging hellos with the security personnel as he passed, every bit of him screaming 'captain'. _This_ was his father's best friend. This was the man who could answer all Jim's questions about George, the one who could tell him everything he'd always wanted to know... and Jim was hiding in a corner. Jim had been building PADDs and bootlegging network connections trying to find info since the first time someone had told him George Kirk was dead, and here was the source Jim had been looking for his entire life. And Jim couldn't summon up the courage to walk across the street.

Jim puffed out his chest with the blind bravery of the young and made his way to the museum. He wet up the marble stairs to the wide entrance, staring at the old style metal doors where Fleet security and their scanners were stationed. Jim willed himself not to slow while he maneuvered himself into the line of the friendliest looking security officer.

The man raised his eyebrow at Jim, who simply pulled the carefully maintained ticket out of his satchel and handed it over. The security officer waived Jim through the full body scanner with a smile and asked, "You alone here, kid?"

Jim turned on his sweetest, sheepish grin and replied, "I left my bag in the car and had to go back for it while everyone else went in."

The guard smirked at Jim, who blushed and shuffled his feet in fake embarrassment. It was enough to keep the genial guard from asking any more questions and moving straight on to scanning Jim's ticket. It went through with the same beep as everyone else, but the guard kept staring at the scanner's readout.

Then he scanned it again.

When the guard's grin shifted from friendly to blank, Jim started to get nervous, and shuffled just out of range of the officer's grip in case Jim was flagged to be kept in custody. Jim held his voice level and asked, "Is something wrong?"

The guard looked up at Jim with a start and sputtered out, "N-No. Nothing's wrong, sir." The guard handed back Jim's ticket with twitching hands and waived him through the open doors and into the museum. If Jim had been paying attention he would've realized that the moment Jim stepped past him the officer had his comm out to radio someone up the chain of authority, but Jim was too distracted by the room in front of him.

The Academy Museum was the best source for humankind's history with space, and it showed in every line of the building. The main hall of the museum was open air that stretched up through all three levels of the structure, crowned in a beautiful ceiling. It was a rounded sheet of glass carved with the pattern of the stars above at high summer. Jim assumed that when the sun was high, the shadows in the glass made a perfect star chart on the wide floor below.

Jim kept to the sides of the entry hall, staying out of everyone's path, and avoiding the patches of Fleet security circling the room. Anyone who did glance Jim's way quickly passed him by, choosing to ignore the badly dressed boy instead of ask questions that might interrupt their night.

Jim made it into the modern wing of the museum, stopping every so often to stare at some display along the way, trying to look casual. He was so excited that he was up the stairs and nearly to the _Kelvin _exhibit before he looked back and saw Fleet security weaving their way through the crowd, obviously looking for someone. Jim's gut clenched in fear and he ducked down a side hall before he could be spotted. He started to run as quietly as he could, looking for an emergency exit, cursing in his mind as he went.

Jim went until he couldn't hear the dull hum of the crowd behind him, then ducked around another corner, just to be safe. He found himself in deep nook, blocked by the leafy branches of a clump of Andorian Dwarf trees. If Jim had bothered to read the plaque he probably could've figured out why there was a copse of trees in the museum, but instead he collapsed against the wall and muttered, "Stupid, _stupid_, Jim."

From behind the bundle of trees a voice replied, "May I ask why it is you think Jim is stupid?" Jim jumped away from the wall in shock and whirled around to see another boy emerge from a narrow path through the trees that Jim hadn't seen. "And why has Jim's stupidity has led you so far away from the main gathering?" Now that he was looking for it, Jim could see a flash of bench tucked beside the window on the far side of the trees, which was where the boy must have been sitting when Jim came in.

Jim took half a step back before he caught himself and muttered, "Wh-what are you doing back here?"

The boy arched an eyebrow and raised the PADD in his hand, "I am reading." The boy said it in a tone that clearly implied Jim had to be slow to even ask such a question, and despite his stress, Jim couldn't help a smile at the boy for mocking him.

The boy's eyebrow went even higher, and Jim knew the boy was waiting for the answer to his own question. Jim slid past the boy and down the small path to plop down on the bench and replied, "_I'm_ Jim, and I'm stupid because I thought coming here was a good idea."

"This supposition was incorrect?"

Jim snorted, "This supposition was _idiotic_." Jim slumped further down on the bench and waived to the empty space beside him, gesturing for the other boy to sit. He cocked his head to the side and Jim could almost feel the internal shrug before the boy gingerly sat down beside him.

Jim bumped shoulders with the other boy and said, "So, I'm Jim."

"You have already stated your name."

Jim chuckled and swung his feet underneath below the bench while he replied, "That means you're supposed to tell me _your_ name."

"If you seek to know my name, why did you not ask for it?"

"I was being subtle."

"Subtlety is a human trait."

Jim snorted, "Well, _yeah_..." Jim turned to the other boy to tease him, but the light spilling through the window cast the boy into sharp relief and Jim finally saw him properly. "_Woah_..." Jim breathed. "You're a _Vulcan_." The boy turned to Jim and raised an eyebrow in concern, as though Jim would consider speaking with him another stupid idea. Somehow in his stress Jim had only paid attention to the wide brown eyes offering him comfort, and assumed the other boy was human. Now that he looked at the boy properly, Jim could see the stiff, high-necked robes and the fine arch to his eyebrows.

Without thinking it through, Jim reached up his hand and gently touched a finger to the tip of the boy's pointed ear. At the touch, the boy's look of concern vanished with a pale green blush. Jim's common sense returned in a rush and he pulled his hand back in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?"

The boy's brow furrowed slightly and he asked, "How would I have been damaged?"

"My teacher said Vulcans are touch telepaths, and anytime you get touched by somebody who isn't Vulcan, it hurts you 'cause you're allergic to our minds."

"Your teacher is incompetent."

Jim smirked, "She's not incompetent, she's just weird."

"Weird is not an accurate definition for a lack of xenobiological knowledge."

"So... I _didn't_ hurt you."

"I am unharmed."

"That- that's good. And _awesome_, by the way. You're a Vulcan! I've never met a Vulcan before!" Jim leaned forward in excitement, and at his declaration the other boy's blush returned.

"You are the first human child of my acquaintance as well."

"I'm not a child!" Jim retorted.

"Given my understanding of human biology you are approximately nine earth years old."

"I'm _ten._"

The corners of the boy's mouth almost turned up, Jim was sure of it, "That age still places you in the category of 'child' according to human development."

"How old are you? You can't be that much older than I am."

"In human years I am eleven."

"See! Not a difference at all!'

"Your math is illogical. For a difference to be of a degree where it constitutes 'big' we must first establish a mathematical base." Jim might have mistaken the boy's statements for tightly wound truth, were it not for twinkle in his eyes.

Jim smacked his arm and laughed, "Stop trying to be difficult!"

"I am not attempting to be difficult."

"Of course you are! You haven't even told me your name!"

The other boy lifted his hand in the traditional Vulcan salute, and with an almost smile he replied, "I am Spock."

Jim unleashed his full grin and made a terrible attempt to duplicate the salute. "I'm James Tiberius Kirk."

From the opposite side of the trees a steady, Vulcan voice declared. "That would explain why Federation Security is searching the building for you."


	2. Chapter 2

Previously…

_The other boy lifted his hand in the traditional Vulcan salute, and with an almost smile he replied, "I am Spock."_

_Jim unleashed his full grin and made a terrible attempt to duplicate the salute. "I'm James Tiberius Kirk." _

_From the opposite side of the trees a steady, Vulcan voice declared. "That would explain why Federation Security is searching the building for you."_

Jim jumped at the sudden voice and buried himself deeper against Spock's side, seeking his strength. Jim stuck his chin out and tried to look like the sudden appearance of a fully-grown Vulcan wasn't scaring him, but Spock could feel the rapid beat of Jim's heart beside his chest. Spock took care to not jostle Jim from his place of safety while he turned to ask, "Does this pertain to your 'stupid plan'?"

If either boy could have been bothered to pay attention they would've noticed how the Vulcan's eyebrow quirked at Spock's use of so human a vulgarity, and absolutely soared when Jim slumped deeper into Spock's warmth to mutter, "Unfortunately. I thought I'd be able to get away with coming here without having anyone notice me."

"You are the son of George Samuel Kirk, why should you strive to be ignored?"

Jim mumbled a reply under his breath, but a pointed silence from Spock demanded further explanation. "The Fleet offered Winona a ticket to this, which she didn't want, so I took it. I just wanted to come, see all the exhibits, hear some speeches about my dad, and go them home, with no one the wiser."

"You imply that your absence for three days will go unnoticed."

Jim snorted, "Completely unnoticed if everything goes like it usually does. It's a weekend, so Frank won't come home, and if he does, he'll be too wasted to notice. And if he asks me about it, I'll lie and tell him I spent the weekend camping or something."

"I presume that 'wasted' refers inebriation from some manner of narcotic."

"Drunk, Spock. Wasted means drunk."

"I see."

Jim laughed at Spock's dubious tone and replied, "No, I don't think you do, but I like it better that way."

Spock replied in what passed for a Vulcan huff, "I understand the nature of alcohol and its effect on humans from my association with those who have come to my home, but never have I seen displayed a level of inebriation which would preclude a parent from seeing to needs of their child."

Jim was up and away from Spock's comfort like a shot, "He's _Frank_. He's not a parent, he's just some guy my mother married because her sister didn't want Sam and I around anymore. He's _not _my dad, George is my dad, that's what this whole stupid thing was about!"

Spock calmly watched Jim pace back and forth, tossing his hands in the air as he shouted. "Jim," Spock interrupted, "I fail to understand what this 'thing' concerns."

Jim dropped down next to Spock on the bench with a dramatic sigh and finally explained. "I just wanted to spend some time with George. I mean, everybody tells me how he was such a great guy, and I'm exactly like him, but I don't know anything about him! It seemed so simple in my head: come to San Francisco, meet George, hear some stories, go home. _Not_ get chased by Federation security and have them call Winona, who's gonna be pissed!"

"You are operating under the presumption that I intend to release you into the custody of Starfleet. This presumption is flawed." Jim jumped at the comment, like he'd completely forgotten the elder Vulcan was there listening.

The Vulcan was lean, with broad shoulders, softly turned eyebrows, and light brown hair pulled back into a short tail. Jim guessed that if the man dropped his hair to cover his tell-tale ears he would pass for human.

The Vulcan held Jim's appraising stare while he pulled a communicator from his pocket and placed two calls in rapid but succinct Vulcan. Jim turned to Spock for an explanation, but the other boy looked just as confused as his human counterpart, albeit in a very subtle way. At Jim's poke, Spock focused enough to translate, "He has requested that one of his men replicate a dark blue suit to match your specifications, and another of his men to bring my mother to our location."

Jim whispered back, "Why is he doing that?"

Before Spock had the chance to reply the elder Vulcan snapped his comm shut and interceded, "Spock has attached himself to you, which places you under my protection."

Jim just scrunched his brow in confusion, and Spock tried to explain. "James Kirk, this is Takeru, chief of security for the Vulcan Elders. He and his division are presently seeing to the welfare of my family and the other Elders while we are on Earth."

"So, your mom's a Vulcan Elder?"

"No, my mother is human. However, my father is Sarek, Vulcan ambassador to Earth."

"Your mom is human? That's so cool!" Jim stopped himself mid-exclamation and forcibly brought himself back on topic. "But if he's worried about the Elders, why is he worried about me?"

Jim seemed so terribly lost that an adult was willing to defend him, and Spock looked appeared as though he didn't understand so human a question, that Takeru intervened. "Your goal in coming here is honorable, and eminently logical. It is only logical that you should be helped to achieve it."

Jim muttered 'logical' to himself, trying to understand how running away could be interpreted as logical. Before he could ask any more questions trying to make sense of it, a woman gracefully burst into their space behind the trees. She was shorter than Jim's own mother, with loose curls of red hair gathered atop her head, and Spock's warm, brown eyes.

Takeru turned and explained the situation to her in Vulcan. Jim couldn't understand the conversation, but he took the half smile from Spock's mom as a good sign. "My mother is pleased."

"Your mom is happy that you picked up a stray?"

"Both she and Takeru are pleased that I have made a friend."

Baffled, Jim went to ask Spock why a friend was such a strange thing, but Takeru stopped him to make introductions. "Lady Amanda Grayson, I present James Tiberius Kirk."

Amanda gave Jim a bright and open smile, stepping forward with an extended hand to shake Jim's. "It's a pleasure to meet you James."

"And you, ma'am."

"Takeru has already notified the rest of our security force that their protection now extends to you. Now that that's been taken care of, we'll have a proper suit for you a in a moment James, and then we can all go back out to the exhibit."

"Wh-what? Why?" Jim sputtered.

Amanda leaned down in front of him, somehow managing to look perfectly graceful while she did so. "A new suit because people will ask less questions if you look like my husband and I brought you here with us, and because I think you'll wonderful in navy blue." Jim's cheeks flamed red, and Amanda continued with a smile. "And we'll go back to the exhibit because that's what you came for. If you're with us, with Vulcan security paying particular attention to you, most people won't dar talk to you. We'll still have to speak with some Starfleet personnel, but I didn't think you'd mind that since they all knew your father, and will be like kids on Christmas to see you."

Jim was so excited he almost started to vibrate. The boy's joy was so complete that Takeru could feel it blossom from across the room. The boy unleashed a brilliant smile and vaulted himself into Lady Amanda's arms with laughs and exclamations of his gratitude. Spock looked stunned, both by the excessive touching and from feeling someone psi-null project their happiness.

"Let me see if I've got this straight. I get to go to the exhibit, talk to people who knew George,_ and _drag Spock around with me?"

Amanda laughed, "Precisely."

Jim let out a whoop and bounced into the air. "When can we go? Can we go now? Can we?"

Amanda handed over the freshly replicated suit with a smile and replied, "As soon as you're changed."

Amanda ushered the men all out from behind the trees and around the corner, giving Jim as much privacy as possible in a nook. Takeru saw Spock's curiosity and sent the guard who brought the suit off with a nod, presumably to check the halls before returning to the party. As soon as they were safely alone, Spock turned to Takeru and said, "That was... unique."

"It was rare, but not without precedent."

Amanda interrupted, "'It'?"

"Jim is broadcasting his emotions, Mother. His happiness at being allowed to return to the function unhindered is... _palpable. _I have been taught that such broadcasting in a psi null species does not occur."

Amanda smiled, "Schools must teach you absolutes, Spock. They could never cover every exception to the rule, and perhaps James is one of those exceptions."

Spock heard grumbling from behind the trees within the nook, and stepped up to the corner to inquire, "Jim, are you well?"

"I'm fine, it's just, um, the suit is, _complicated_."

"Complicated in what manner?"

Jim unleashed a pained sigh and replied in a whisper, "I can't figure out the stupid jacket."

"Do you require assistance?" Spock replied, in not a whisper at all.

Jim popped his head around the trees with a glower and snapped, "Not if you're gonna go telling everyone about it."

With a furrowed brow Spock relied, "I fail to see how-"

"Fine! Yes, _fine_, I need help with the jacket!"

Spock stepped back behind the trees and deftly rearranged the jacket, just as his mother had so often done for him. "This clothing is Vulcan," Spock explained. "Your difficulty stems from it being foreign in nature."

Jim snorted, "No, I'm just awful with dress clothes."

Spock ignored the statement and instead set himself to righting the layers of the suit chosen for Jim. He arranged everything to his satisfaction, then looked up to find that Jim had been staring at him with a shy smile and wide eyes. Jim reached up and touched a fingertip to the outer ridge of Spock's pointed ear and whispered, "I'm glad you're my friend, and not just 'cause you look out for me."

A green flush spread across Spock's cheeks and he replied, "I find your company pleasing as well." Jim just laughed and grabbed one of Spock's hands which had frozen smoothing Jim's jacket. He pulled Spock out into the hallway at a dash, practically bouncing with excitement.

Amanda just laughed at his excitement, and picked up the pace to escort the boys down the hall. Takeru trailed along behind, knowing that his team would have cleared the path between their location and the main party. He took a moment to appreciate the quiet and braced himself for the fallout when the Elders bothered to pay attention to James.


	3. Chapter 3

Apologies for the posing delay, but the kids have been sick, which then meant I was sick, which mean I wasn't writing. I hope the new chapter was worth the wait, and there should be another chapter tomorrow. Thanks to the lovely people who reviewed, and to all of you who signed up to be notified about new chapters! I hope you like it!

* * *

"Spock, look at that!" Jim dashed off again to look at another display tugging Spock along behind. Jim had been bounding from point to arbitrary point around the _Kelvin_ exhibit for the last twenty minutes, Spock's hand firmly clasped in his. (Despite Spock's efforts to explain Vulcan touch telepathy, and thus, the impropriety of holding hands, but Jim only managed to restrain himself for ten minutes before he started touching again.)

Amanda and Takeru followed behind them at a much slower pace, but their direct route still kept Jim in their sights. Amanda spent her stroll gracefully deflecting any unwanted attention, while Takeru simply glowered at those who were not complying with the message. A few Starfleet officers still stared at the boys as they went past, though Spock was unsure whether they found James himself worth the attention, or whether a Vulcan child hand in hand with a human was their focus.

Jim came to a halt in front of a large display of pictures documenting the youth of George Kirk, and Spock thought for a moment that Jim might finally be approaching the exhibit in a logical manner. However, rather than begin at the beginning, Jim pulled Spock to a small holo near the middle of the display wall, and stared at it with a stillness Spock had not thought Jim capable of.

The holo showed two boys, the elder carrying the younger in what Spock's mother would have termed a piggy-back. The boys were caught mid-laugh, apparently amused at whatever had splattered them from head to toe in mud. Spock did not need to ask Jim to know that the older boy with the dirty blonde hair and the bright eyes was George Kirk. The other boy was much smaller, and looked at George with joy and devotion.

Jim reached out and pointed to the smaller boy carried on George's back and whispered to Spock, "That's Pike."

"Pike?"

"Dad's best friend." Jim stared at the holo with hushed awe.

Jim stood rooted to his spot, so Spock shifted closer to the holo and read the caption underneath. "George Kirk (11) with Christopher Pike (8)."

Jim clenched Spock's hand and said, "They're our age. That's you and me, Spock." Spock squeezed Jim's hand back, and let the human stand in quiet and watch his father.

#######

"You can't talk to him if you're hiding." Number One jabbed.

Pike snorted, "I'm not hiding, I'm getting the lay of the land. It's basic tactics."

Since the moment security had informed them Jim Kirk was running around unsupervised, Chris Pike had been wound so tight Number One thought he was going to burst. And trailing Jim and the Vulcan Ambassador's boy through the museum hadn't helped that stress level any. The more he watched, the more he psyched himself out of approaching Jim.

"Talking to the kid isn't like taking out an enemy vessel, Cap. It can't be as bad as you think it's gonna be."

"Can't be as- He's _George_! Every inch of the kid is George all over again."

"And that's a problem?"

Pike sighed and Number One demanded, "Out with it, Cap. I'm not in the mood to watch you sulk."

"You know, one of these days you're gonna have to talk to me with some respect. I'm your captain now."

"You're afraid to talk to your godson, I'll mock you all I want, captain or no captain."

They sat in silence for a minute until Chris finally broke and murmured, "Winona and I... we weren't friends."

"I don't see what that has to do with the kid on that bench over there staring at a picture of you like it's the best Christmas present he's ever seen."

"Number One..." Pike groaned, and the woman threw up his hands and replied, "Fine, fine, you and Winona never liked each other, and Winona raised the kid, and now you're a Starfleet Captain who's scared to talk to the kid in case his mother taught him to hate you."

"Basically."

"Because, of course, Kirk's kid isn't gonna have a mind of his own, and he's going to do _exactly _what his absentee mother tells him to do. Because running away to San Francisco makes me thinks he's that kind of kid."

"You being a shit doesn't make this any easier on me, you know."

"I'm not here to make your life easier, I'm here to keep you from doing something stupid, Cap. If you stand here and stare at the kid for the rest of the night you'll never forgive yourself for not getting over there and talking to him, and not just because it's more than a little creepy to stare at him."

Pike broke his gaze from Jim to glower at Number One. "Really? You couldn't come up with a better way to put it than that?"

"Can _you_ come up with something better? You've been stalking the kid for the last twenty minutes, Chris! I'm surprised the Vulcans haven't escorted you out of the building yet."

Pike rolled his eyes, ignoring how Number One grumbling under her breath, "Don't know why they turned the kid over to the Vulcans anyway. We can look after him without their help."

"Your assertion is flawed." Pike and Number One whirled back to see the small Vulcan who'd been hand in hand with Jim all day. They'd been too busy bickering to notice that Spock had left Jim's side with a whispered promise to be return in a moment, and made his way straight to Pike.

"Starfleet failed to realize that James had bypassed their security until after Vulcan security discovered him, and rectified the situation. That failure is extreme in and of itself without acknowledging the further failure to monitor James' movements at home and allow him to proceed to San Francisco unescorted."

Number One gaped, and Spock turned his attention to Pike before she could struggle past her surprise and say something rash. "James desires to see you."

"How did you-" Spock raised an eyebrow, and Pike answered his own question with a muttered, "Right, that damn Vulcan hearing."

"Indeed." Spock's reply was short, and he sounded entirely unimpressed with this man that Jim so wanted to see.

Pike caught the disdain creeping into Spock's voice and replied, "Look kid, it's complicated."

"James wishes to see you." Pike looked down at the small Vulcan who was silently demanding that Chris do what James wanted. The message that stern little face sent was clear: if you don't care about Jim enough to get over your own issues and go to him, you aren't worth his time. (Or some proper Vulcan translation of that.)

It all seemed so simple when Spock said it, and so Pike replied, "Then we shouldn't keep him waiting." Number One smirked, and Pike knew he'd be mocked for the rest of his career for getting brow beaten by a miniaturized Vulcan, but it would be worth it.

Jim was sitting on a bench in front of a wall of pictures, kicking his short legs back and forth while he stared at young George. Spock sat down on the far side of Jim, and Pike watched Jim's tension slip away and a genuine smile spread across his face. Pike realized that he hadn't even noticed Jim was faking calm until Spock made it better.

Jim bumped Spock's shoulder and asked, "Where did you go?"

"I believe the appropriate human phrase is, 'I come bearing gifts'." Spock gestured behind Jim and announced, "James Tiberius Kirk, I present to you Captain Christopher Pike."

Jim whirled around in shock and stared at Pike, while Pike fumbled to find something good to say. He had a little speech prepared, something formal and too stuffy, but those were the sort of speeches he had practice giving. (After all, Starfleet didn't teach a class on how to develop a relationship with your dead best friend's kid.) But despite his planning, all organized thought fled at the perfect blue of Jim's eyes and, "_Holy shit_," was all Pike could come up with to say.

Jim paled and sunk back into Spock at an adult cursing at him, a reaction Pike filed away for later study, and Pike dropped to his knees before Jim. "No, no, no, kid, I wasn't- not at you, well… at _you_, but not- I mean- you look _just like him_! Your grin, and your eyes, and shit kid, even the way you _sit_!"

Jim didn't calm at that explanation and stuttered out, "I-is that bad?"

"Bad?" Pike explained, "No kid, it's wonderful!" He reached up and gently touched his hands to Jim's cheeks and uttered a choked whisper, "You're perfect."

Jim slid from the bench and slammed into Pike's chest, throwing his arms around the captain. Pike wrapped one arm around Jim's ribs and pulled him tight to his chest, and threaded his other hand through Jim's hair.

Spock looked away from the emotional scene and watched how Number One and Takeru pointedly re-directed the attention of anyone who was foolish enough to stare. They stayed that way for a few minutes, Jim with his face buried in Pike's chest, and Pike running his fingers through the blonde hair. Eventually they pulled back, both flushed and pretending they hadn't just made a scene.

Pike clear his throat and patted Jim on the back in what Spock assumed was meant to be a masculine gesture for humans. "So, you... grew up."

Number One snorted, "Smooth, Chris."

"If you know how to have this kind of conversation I'd be thrilled to hear your opinion." Pike said with a glower.

Number One was about to snark back, but Spock intervened. "Perhaps it would be simplest to ask Jim what he would like to know."

Pike turned back with a grin and raised an eyebrow in question. "Aren't you not old enough to be a Captain?" Jim asked.

Number One grumbled something under her breath at the question, but Pike ignored his own shock and answered, "I'm 32, Jim. I'm not the youngest Captain Starfleet has ever had, but I'm close to it."

"How'd you get it?"

Pike assumed Jim was just working his way to the real questions, and so replied, "I was a good first officer to Captain April. When he got promoted to Commodore, I took his place as captain."

Jim kept staring, so Pike asked, "More?" Jim nodded, and Pike continued. "Okay. I went to Starfleet at 18, graduated at 22, and went straight to the _Enterprise_ as one of April's tactical officers. When that officer became First Officer on another ship, April took a gamble on me and I took the spot of Chief Tactical Officer. I did a good job, and when the spot opened up he made me his First. Now, can I ask you a question, Jim?"

"Sure, Chris." Jim grinned.

"Where did you pick up a Vulcan security detail?"

"They picked me up actually. I could tell Fleet security was looking for me, so I ran, and I found Spock. He took care of everything."

"Why were you hiding from security in the first place?"

Jim unleashed the sheepish smile he always used on adults to make them think he was repentant and replied, "I didn't want to get in trouble."

Pike snorted in disbelief, "Kid, remember how I was in with your dad for every bad life choice he ever made? That smile may work on everyone else, but it doesn't work on me. So, why were you hiding from security?"

Jim stared pointedly at his feet while he grumbled, "Winona doesn't know I'm here."

"Uh huh, I could've guessed that. What about that fellow Winona is married to? The one who should be keeping track of you?"

"I don't need keeping track of!"

"Jim, you're _ten_. Federation law requires that you've got someone to look after you, whether he's irritating or not."

"He's not irritating, he's a bastard. Sam and I both hate him."

Pike just smirked and chose to ignore the vengeful nature of children and said, "He has to have done something to warrant that dislike, and to make you willing to cross half the country without telling anybody."

"He did do anything, he just wouldn't have let me come." Jim pouted.

"But what if something had happened-"

"He wouldn't have cared, alright!" Jim pulled back from Pike, and shouted, "And who are you to tell me I was being stupid!" Spock had known Jim for all of an hour and yet he knew that Jim despised being fussed over. To Jim there was little worse than implying he was incapable of seeing to his own wellbeing.

Before Pike could try and make it right, Spock stepped in between them, "Thank you for your time Captain Pike, but it is time for James and I to retire. Perhaps you may continue this discussion tomorrow."

Pike put on his captain face and tried to insist they stay, but Takeru appeared from nowhere, his hands on Pike's shoulders, firmly lifting him to his feet. At that, Number One reached for a weapon that was supposed to have been turned over at the door. Her movement pulled Takeru's men from the shadows, and their appearance tensed every Fleet officer in the room. Spock and James unconsciously shifted closer together, watching the adults around teeter on the brink of doing something rash**.**

Before anyone could do more than tense, Amanda swept into the room with a wide smile and no acknowledgment of the situation she walked into. "Ah, there you are, boys! It's getting late, are you ready to go?"

Spock tipped his head in respect and replied, "Yes, Mother. We were conveying our goodnights to Captain Pike before we left."

"Wonderful! Are you done, James?"

"Yeah, Ma'am. Pike and I are done."

Pain spread across Pike's features at Jim's subtle denouncement. He grabbed Jim's arm as he stepped away, sending everyone into a restrained fit once again, but he raised his fingertips to trace Jim's cheekbone and he whispered, "I do love you, Jim. No matter how terrible I am at everything else, I love you."

Jim flushed a bright crimson and grinned at Pike, forgiving him completely. He waived a small goodbye then grabbed Spock's hand and dashed over to Amanda. If any Starfleet personnel gave them baffled stares, Jim didn't notice it.

Amanda took Jim's other hand and the two of them kept Jim tucked safely in between, both knowing that Jim wouldn't realize their presence was shielding him from any further pestering. They made their way unhindered to the museum entrance, and there Jim saw the real reason why Fleet personnel had been skirting him all night.

Spock's dad was the scariest man Jim had ever seen.

Sarek was tall and imposing, with none of Amanda's gentle enthusiasm, or Spock's subtle ticks of emotion. The planes of his face were hard, with every line firm, and Jim could see why the Fleet had been avoiding everyone tied to Sarek. Jim clenched Spock's hand and tried not to freeze. Amanda tugged him along behind her, not giving Jim the chance to run away.

The three of them came to a stop directly in front of Sarek, still hand in hand, and even Jim noticed the suspenseful hush that fell over the room. Jim leaned away slightly when Sarek didn't even bother to raise an eyebrow at him. "Husband, this is James Kirk, he will be staying with us at the Embassy."

"I-If that's alright?" Jim interrupted, "I don't want to be a bother."

Amanda ran a soothing hand through Jim's hair and said, "You could never be a bother, James."

Jim tilted his head back to be able to look all the way up at Sarek, who confirmed, "My wife is correct. The probability of your presence being a hindrance rather than a benefit is low."

Jim looked unsure for a moment, so Amanda translated from Vulcan to human and whispered to Jim, "That means he likes you." Jim didn't know if it really went quite that far, but since he was being swept into a hovercar with his new best friend, he decided not to question it.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Thanks to the lovely people who've left reviews, I'm glad you're liking the story!

* * *

His bed was _huge._

Huge, with cloud-like pillows, and a quilt that looked like someone's grandmother had stitched it together. Everything about the room was warm and welcoming in greens and browns, leaving Jim to turn to Spock with a strange mix of joy and confusion on his face.

"This room is specially designed for the comfort of human visitors to the Embassy." Spock explained.

"So your bedroom doesn't look like this?"

"Vulcans place primary value on utility, while humans value comfort."

"So... no, then."

"Indeed." Spock moved to give Jim a tour of the room, but Jim ignored propriety to take a running leap onto the soft bed.

Jim bounced for a moment in a fit of laughs then popped his head up and shouted, "Come on Spock, it's fun!"

"I fail to understand how damage to a furniture item can be considered 'fun'."

"I'm not damaging it Spock, I'm playing!"

Spock stifled a sigh, and Jim just laughed at him again. He patted next to him on the bed and declared, "If you're not going to play, at least come sit with me."

Spock quirked an eyebrow, but still gingerly sat beside Jim, as close to the edge of the bed as he could get.

Jim snorted, "Beds are for sleeping, not sitting?"

"Correct."

Jim flopped over as he laughed, sprawling out over as much of the bed as he could manage. "Spock... Vulcan is part of the Federation, right?"

"Of course, James. Vulcan and Earth are the Federation's founding members."

"Then why did Takeru make Fleet Security so jumpy?"

Spock shifted back slightly on the bed, unconsciously getting himself comfortable for this conversation. "Relations between Earth and Vulcan have been strained since the _Narada_ incident."

"How come?" Jim asked with a furrowed brow.

"There is a faction of Earth's citizens who hold Vulcan responsible for the actions of the _Narada _because of the shared history of Vulcans and believe that Earth's association with Vulcan, and through us, with the Romulan Empire, brought about the destruction of the _Kelvin."_

Jim popped up from his sprawl and shouted, "Seriously? Why would people think that?"

"Because they are illogical."

"I'm guessing that you've got Takeru around because they're not just all talk?"

"Indeed. Shortly after the_ Narada_ incident, my father was attacked by members of this faction. Takeru had been reading the Earth news and knew there was unrest, so he insisted upon accompanying him on his travels. Had Takeru not been with him, it is likely that my father would not have survived the encounter."

"But why would they attack Sarek? I mean, no offense or anything Spock, but your dad looks like he could kick anybody's ass if he felt like it."

"My father is indeed formidable, but he was so severely outnumbered that he would have fallen. Their goal was to kill my father, and thus damage Earth's relations with Vulcan beyond repair."

"Would it have worked? Killing Sarek?"

"The High Council would have suspended all relations with Earth until they were allowed to meet out punishment to each individual involved in the crime, included those who acted, those who planned, and those who knew."

"Would Vulcan do that for any of its citizens, or do they just really like Sarek?"

"Under most circumstances the High Council would demand the life of one who takes the life of one of our citizens. However, my father sits on the High Council, and is the son of one of the great matriarchs over our people. Were he to be killed it would be considered an act of terrorism perportrated against the whole of Vulcan."

"That's... intense. So Takeru was following you around because you're Sarek's son?"

Spock flinched at Jim's question, which told him more about the situation than Spock's bare bones reply of, "Yes."

"What's up, Spock?" Jim asked, then rapidly continued, "And if you say the ceiling, or the sky, or that up isn't really a direction it's just a construct based off my limited human perception I will smack you with a pillow."

The corners of Spock's mouth twitched up from Jim's exclamation, and he replied, "My line descends from Surak, the philosopher who led Vulcan out of her dark ways and into the light of logic. Our house has long been honored because it is his house. Takeru descends from Surak's most beloved counselor, one of the first to turn from the ways of war to the ways of logic, the Vulcan who became Surak's right hand. A member of Takeru's house has been there to aide the head of our house since Surak himself, in whatever capacity our house requires."

"So, your dad needed Takeru to be the head of his security?"

Spock shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with the questioning, and Jim scooted next to him on the edge of the bed. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, Spock. I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"Vulcans do not get uncomfortable. This is merely a conversation which has failed to go well in the past."

"How come?"

"My mother is human, James." Spock bit out.

Jim just laughed, "Yeah Spock, I noticed that."

Spock looked surprised at the ease with which Jim was handling the conversation, but continued, "Takeru was in service to T'Pau and functioned as the head of security for the Elders, but he resigned that position to protect my family when I was born."

"Is Amanda being human a, a _dangerous_ thing on Vulcan?"

"Takeru thought it might prove to be after I was born. He has been my companion since birth, letting his men see to the primary protection of the Elders."

"Why is it dangerous?" Jim questioned.

"There are those, both on Earth and on Vulcan, who believe my existence is an abomination."

"What?" Jim sprang to his feet in a rage.

"Some Earthlings believe that Vulcans lack the humanity necessary to join with a human, and many Vulcans believe Humans are incapable of submitting their emotions to logic."

"And Takeru was worried one of these idiots would do something stupid and hurt you?"

"Vulcans do not worry, but it was a logical concern on Takeru's part."

"Sure, he did it 'cause it was _logical_, right." Jim said with an eye roll.

Spock chose to let Jim's implication slide and instead asked, "James, may I inquire as to the state of your association with Captain Pike?"

"You mean am I pissed at him?"

"Though vulgar, I believe that would be an accurate descriptor of my question."

Jim dropped back down to his spot next to Spock with a sigh, "He pushed me, and I hate being pushed. So I lost my temper."

"This pushing would be metaphorical?"

"Yup. I mean, he's known me all of half and hour and he started asking me questions about Frank. That's not cool."

Spock paused for a moment to determine the meaning of 'cool' from context, then proceeded. "Yet despite your frustration, you seemed displeased when we left the Captain."

Jim flopped back onto the bed and muttered, "I thought I'd have more time with him."

"I am sure you will see Captain PIke soon and will be able to ask more of your questions."

"It's just not how I pictured it going."

"Perhaps you should tell me how you anticipated this event occurring so that I may help you achieve your goal."

"It wasn't a _goal_, really. I just thought we'd sit down and he'd tell me his best memory of George as a kid, and how he met Winona, and how he was excited to have me come. Just stupid stuff like that."

"Jim, it is not stupid to have affirmation that your existence was desired."

"It's not just about the knowing they meant to have me, but that I really came from somewhere. I'd like to know if I'm _really_ like him, or if people just say that."

"Why would they maintain your similarity to your father if it was false?"

"Sometimes humans lie to make themselves feel better, Spock." Jim stared blankly up at the ceiling, avoiding Spock's knowing gaze.

"What benefit would come from lying about your appearance?"

"It I look like George, then maybe I'm like him, and George isn't really gone."

Spock very gently leaned back on the bed beside Jim, joining him in an ardent study of the ceiling as he replied, "But you are _not _George Kirk. They negate his life by pretending otherwise. George Kirk sacrificed himself to see you brought into the world just as you are. He wanted _you_, not some counterfeit of himself."

Tears welled up in Jim's eyes, which he rubbed away as quickly as he could. "Ya know Spock, for being an emotionless Vulcan, you're really good at this stuff."

Spock flushed bright green and pointedly ignored how Jim was looking at him now. "Takeru was slated for the next open spot on the Council. He gave that up to guard me. An abomination."

"You're not-"

"There are those who believe so who also hold power on Vulcan. Takeru traded a lifetime of work and went from being one of Vulcan's more honored citizens, to a being my nursemaid. When I asked him why, he told me that I was worth it, and anyone who thought otherwise was a fool."

Jim wrapped his arms around Spock and squeezed, clinging on until Spock unclenched and rested his arms around Jim in return. "You _are _worth it, Spock. I'm glad Takeru thinks so too."

"And I am... glad George Kirk found you worth the effort."

#######

Amanda's first thought was, 'Aww, that's adorable,' which was quickly superceded by, 'Oh, thank goodness no one else saw this.'

Amanda had gone to check on Spock, as she did every morning, and had panicked a little when Spock wasn't there. Spock's morning routine was like clockwork, no matter how hard she tried to make him sleep in. That panic shifted into amusement when she realized that Spock had probably gone to check on Jim (or more likely, been lured away from his usually strict schedule by Jim).

Though now, standing in the doorway to Jim's borrowed room, she realized it was neither of those. And she was beyond grateful that she was the one to discover it.

Spock and Jim were laying the wrong direction halfway down the large bed. From their spot she guess that the boys had fallen asleep talking. The human was sprawled half over Spock, with his arms gripped around Spock and his head pillowed on Spock's shoulder like he was some giant teddy bear. As if Jim's conduct wasn't untoward enough, Spock had one arm flung across Jim's waist and the other hand twined through Jim's blonde hair.

Amanda let herself enjoy the sight for just a moment, soaking in the simple joy that her son had made a friend that he was comfortable showing affection to. She forced herself to move past that happiness and into relief that she was the one to discover them.

Most of the Vulcans at the Embassy lauded Sarek for his work with the illogical humans, but there were always some who, despite their adoration of Sarek, despised Spock. To see Spock like this, twined around his best friend and having so utterly human a moment, would've been a source of ridicule for the rest of his life. Amanda needed to get them straightened out and come up with a reason for Spock's presence here should any of the Vulcans notice he never made back to his room.

Yes, she really did need to take care of all of that... eventually.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Thank you for all the kind and lovely reviews! And finally, we move past introductions and start heading into plot! Yay!

* * *

"I look like an idiot." Jim said sullenly.

"You are dressed in appropriate attire for a Vulcan youth."

"I don't know if you've noticed this Spock, but I'm not a Vulcan!"

"No James, I am so feeble minded that your species escaped my notice."

Jim stopped in mid-aggitated pace and stared at Spock in disbelief. "Did you just snark at me?"

"If 'snark' means that I pointed out the fallacy in your logic, then yes, I did in fact, 'snark' at you."

With an eye roll Jim replied, "I ramble when I'm nervous, Spock. And apparently you get mouthy."

"I do not. get. _mouthy_."

"You totally do, Spock. And if may point out, you didn't deny that you're nervous." Spock opened his mouth to snap back, but Jim just raised his hand. "Is your Dad gonna get pissed? Or whatever the Vulcan equivalent of pissed is?"

"He will not be pleased."

Jim started pacing again, "Maybe Amanda won't even tell him?"

"Never has my mother kept the truth from my father, no matter how distasteful he may find it. She believes that 'honesty is the best policy', and even if she did not, there would be little point in attempting to withhold from Father."

Jim froze in a panic and asked, "Is your Dad psychic or something?"

Spock cocked an eyebrow in reply and Jim snapped, "Hey, don't give me that look! You said you were a touch telepath and the only reason you couldn't read my thoughts was because you're too young to be fully developed. Your dad isn't young, so that's gotta mean he can read my mind if he wants, right?"

Spock huffed, "You are not allowed to return to that school. Your teacher is either inept or xenophobic, and neither can be tolerated. Vulcans only examine the thoughts of others in periods of extreme duress. I will tell mother about your deficient education and she will see to it that you are transfered to another class."

"Why do I need to switch classes if you're just gonna teach me everything about Vulcans anyway?"

"You cannot come to Vulcan until you have been properly educated regarding Vulcan customs. It would be illogical to wait to instruct you until after you had already made a mistake."

"Vulcan? I'm going to Vulcan?"

Spock put his hands behind his back, pointedly pretending he wasn't blushing. "It was illogical of me to assume you would wish-"

"Illogical? I get to visit you on Vulcan? Spock, that's awesome!" Jim bounced and barely restrained himself from throwing his arms around Spock. "Your dad isn't going to like, squash the plan when he finds out about last night is he?"

"It would be illogical for him to do so."

Jim quirked an eyebrow, and said, "See now, I don't really get how it _wouldn't_ be logical to chuck me out. I mean, I violated your personal space in front of _everybody_ yesterday, and then swindled you into keeping me company last night, and really, Vulcans don't seem like they're big on pseudo-adopting waifs."

Spock blushed again and Jim couldn't help but smile. He figured that someday Spock would have to stop blushing and become stoic like Sarek, which was a day Spock really wasn't looking forward to, so enjoyed the blushes while be could. "It would be illogical because I am... fond of you."

Jim released his cheshire grin, "So what you're saying is, even though I'm wicked, your Dad won't kick me out because I make you happy?"

Jim could tell Spock fought an eye roll at his dramatics, but replied with a succinct, "Yes."

#######

Sarek had been watching the boys converse since Amanda had first entered his office. His wife had come to inform him of the state she'd found their child in this morning, but Sarek had already investigated the matter himself. Sarek had felt a rush of embarrassment moments after the human child had woken, and threw a mental shield around the boy to block such an emotion from the rest of the Embassy. Because of that, Sarek had examined the security footage from James' room before Amanda even appeared at his door.

He watched the boys over the security monitor while Amanda watched him with an indulgent smile. "At some point Spock will realize that you had Takeru hack the museum security and you've seen every moment he's spent with Jim since they met. He's also going to be concerned that you've done that to come up with reasons to dislike James."

"His concern would be unnecessary. Spock is correct in his supposition that I would not remove the boy."

"Because you are pleased that Spock has someone he trusts." Amanda said it with the calm confidence that came from knowing Sarek far too well.

"Indeed. Though I believe the situation to be more complicated than merely that."

"You believe?"

"I lack the evidence necessary to make a definitive statement."

"But you have suspicions."

"T'Pau will be returning with Healer T'Yai this evening. They will be able to confirm or deny my theory."

"Healer T'Yai? Why would her presence be necessary?"

"Takeru and I both share this theory, and though our gifts are substantial, T'Yai is the only healer with both the authority and the gifts necessary to make this determination."

Amanda quirked an eyebrow but let her questions lie, knowing from his extra flinch of a frown that Sarek wasn't going to share any more information. "Are you going to keep the boys in suspense, or are you going to bring them in and put them out of their misery?"

"I find it improbable that I will ever understand your insistence on implying that I bear some relation to your planet's primitive crime syndicates."

Amanda snorted, knowing Sarek's teasing when she heard it, and moved to the door to summon the boys. Amanda didn't need to hear their conversation to know from their body language that James was saying something terribly human and Spock was mortified. She could tell from the wicked glint in James' eyes, and the way Spock's ever-exrpessive eyebrows were about to rise right off his forehead. Spock heard the snick of the door opening and schooled his expression when Amanda stepped out. She grinned at the boys and ushered them in to Sarek's office.

Spock moved to his usual spot before Sarek's desk, Jim following right behind, imitating Spock's formal stance. Sarek said nothing, letting them stew in silence for a moment. Sarek had always used the quiet as a moment to gather his thoughts and examine Spock's state of mind. It was a tradition Amanda's men were accustomed to, But Jim was not.

Sarek's gaze kept flicking away from Spock and over to Jim as the little human's panic grew. Jim fidgeted in discomfort and finally snapped out, "It wasn't his fault!"

"There is no blame to assign, James."

"There's no... but you're mad."

"What behavior leads you to believe I am angry?" Sarek calmly asked, leaning back in his chair ever so slightly.

Jim looked down at the floor and mumbled, "Grown ups get really quiet before they start to yell."

"I do not yell, James. I do not consider it an effective means of communication. Nor have you done anything that warrants a display of temper by any adult."

"But, I uh... really?"

"You have not been taught to shield, and yesterday you were subjected to intense emotions. It is only natural that your unconscious mind sought safety from Spock's own shielding."

"What strong emotions?" Jim sounded rather affronted.

"You ran away from home, journeyed across the continent on your own, bypassed Starfleet security, and had a fight with your idealized male authority figure. It is only natural that you would deal with fear."

"I wasn't afraid!"

"James, Spock is telepathically gifted, but he is young, and as such his telepathic abilities are not yet developed, and even he could sense your emotion. I am both gifted and fully mature, which means I am capable of far more."

Jim flushed to to a bright pink and exclaimed, "Spock said Vulcans don't do that!"

"You have no mental barriers, James. You broadcast your strong emotions quite clearly."

Jim looked horrified at that revelation, and Spock wondered seriously for a moment whether Jim's face might actually set aflame it was so red. Amanda laughed, "Don't worry James, Vulcans don't go around plucking thoughts out of your head, and being open is one the perks of the young."

"But how do I stop it so other people don't know exactly what I'm thinking!"

"You will no be read again until I allow it." Sarek consoled.

Amanda and Spock stared at Sarek like he'd done something unbelievable and Jim looked around in discomfort while he asked, "You mean you, like... sent a memo around?"

The corner of Sarek's mouth gave a fleeting twitch, which Amanda knew was his version of a grin, and she relaxed. "I have extended my own mental shielding to protect your mind from reading by other parties. I will keep it in place until you are taught to protect yourself."

"So, you wrapped your mind around me?"

"That is a fair approximation."

Jim flushed again and asked, "I haven't been mentally poking you or anything, have I?"

"No James, if anything my proximity to your mind has been... pleasant." At Amanda's grin and Spock's widened eyes Sarek explained, "You have a dynamic mind, nearly perfect in its humanity, and you greatly remind me of Amanda."

"Will learning to shield change that?" Jim turned his question to Amanda, assuming she'd know best.

"No dear. If anything, being aware of how your mind works will only make you more beautiful."

Jim flushed again and Sarek continued. "Spock will teach you meditation, which is the base of any true mental defense. After tonight we will construct a more complete plan for your training."

"May I ask why we must wait until this evening, Father?"

"I have asked Healer T'Yai to speak with James. How we approach this situation will vary based upon her findings."

"A healer? Do you think I'm sick?"

Sarek firmed up his shields to Jim's accidental mental battery, steeling himself against the boy's fear. The concern wasn't for his health, however, it was that he was going to be taken from all he'd suddenly gained. "Healer T'Yai is a Vulcan Adept gifted with Sight, James. She is not a doctor as you have been taught to perceive them."

"With... sight?"

Amanda stepped in before Sarek could answer with either a refusal, or something too complicated for the boy to grasp. "It's a little known fact that Vulcans can be more than just touch telepaths, a truth that we ask you keep to yourself. All Vulcans are touch telepaths, but there are some with gifts that range beyond that traditional form of telepathy. Those gifts tie directly into the usual five senses. To be gifted with Sight is to be both a touch telepath and to have some foresight."

Jim raised an eyebrow, "Never would've thought that Vulcans had psychics."

Amanda grinned, "It's a little more complicated than that, James. It's not the human mysticism of telling someone they're going to find love tomorrow, it's usually more vague and more... _grand_. Those with Sight would never think to tell you anything like who you're going to marry, or that you should get a new job. They concern themselves with much broader things. Like what benefits a whole house, and whole planet."

"But why would you want her to talk to _me_?"

"Just because they don't usually examine an individual doesn't mean they can't."

Jim turned to Sarek with the same question in his eyes, "Takeru and I are both gifted with Sight to a very small extent, that is part of what makes us so skilled in our positions. We both had an impression regarding something concerning you and wish to have it either confirmed or denied by someone with far more skill than either of us. And please James," Sarek continued, "Please refrain from asking any more about it until after T'Yai has spoken to you. If we are wrong it is a matter that you should not be burdened with."

#######

'Not burden Jim, indeed' Amanda thought to herself after the boys had left. Spock and James were now tucked away meditating in some private nook of the Embassy, being subtley observed by Sarek and Takeru over the security cams.

Considering that neither man had braced someone's head on a pike outside the Embassy, Amanda assumed they hadn't been informed of the afternoon tabloids. One of the numerous Embassy aides had brought a PADD displaying the front page to Amanda, and now that she looked at she muttered to herself once again that all this talk about Vulcans not knowing fear was absolute nonsense, though she didn't particularly want to be the one to take the article to Sarek either.

"Kirk Son at Academy Museum" was exclaimed in bold script across the top of the page. The article itself was rather ridiculous, esecially considering that the reporter couldn't seem to determine which Kirk boy they were gossiping about. Despite the waste of words, there was a picture accompanying the article, something slightly blurry snapped as James was about to enter their vehicle the night before, with a too blurry to be recongized Spock in the dark just beside him.

Amanda heaved a rather great sigh, the sort she would never indulge in in front of any Vulcan, and made her way back to Sarek's office. She spared a brief flare of compassion for anyone associated with this article (most of whom Takeru would see to it never worked again), then she remembered Jim's resigned fear from that morning: the fear that Sarek was about to start shouting, and that compassion morphed into rage. Whoever it was that began Jim's pavlovian reaction to being in trouble was about to know that Jim had run away to San Francisco, and would expose Jim to their ire before Sarek could create some way to protect him. To say nothing of the press and officers who would hound the lively child currently trying to calm enough to meditate.

With that in mind, Amanda hoped that Sarek would make them cry for printing this.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Apologies for the posting delay. I got a rather angry/mean/demeaning review, and I don't know about you, but I have to take a few days off to get my head back in the game before I write anything. I don't feel like I'm quite good enough to be able to just brush everything off when people are quite that vicious.

Sorry that you had to pay for it. Next chapter up soon!

Thanks for reading!

* * *

Today displayed a series of speakers, the first beginning with the early voyages of the _Kelvin_, barely seven months before her demise, leading on to a second speech about the _Kelvin's _strenuous last month patrolling the Klingon border, and a final speech concerning the vessel's last half hour. There would be only two speakers tomorrow, one on the life of Captain Richard Robau, and then Christopher Pike on the life of George Kirk before the museum was re-opened to the general public.

Spock had memorized the schedule in an attempt to protect James from any surprises. However, all Spock's plans to shield Jim from any emotional disturbances had not taken into account the swarm of ravenous reporters skulking outside the museum.

Jim plastered his face to the car window, staring at the blanket of flashing lights between their family and sanctuary. Takeru very calmly pulled Jim away from the tinted window and deposited him on the far side of the car while he exchanged a look with Sarek. Spock knew that silent glance was enough for the men to make a plan, but he reached out and placed a hand on Takeru's arm before Takeru could sweep from the car to fulfill his security duties. Spock tried his best to sound like Sarek issuing an order and said, "You will stay with James."

Jim tried to interject, but Takeru nodded before Jim could insist that he'd be fine on his own. Sarek stepped out of the hovercar, while Amanda lagged behind just a moment, her gaze flicking over all of them while she tried to piece together what it was she'd missed that somehow the men had managed to pick up on.

Jim gaped after them and turned to Takeru with questions in his eyes. "All these people are here to see me?"

"Yes." Takeru answered, not turning to look at Jim while he kept his attention on the people surrounding them.

"But... _why_?"

"The Kirk family has long been a source of gossip for the inhabitants of Earth."

"Why?" Jim asked plaintively.

"Your Great-Grandfather was colloquially referred to as a 'notorious womanizer', leading to much speculation on his social life. Your grandfather had the same reputation, despite marrying when he was what humans consider young." Takeru rambled off quickly.

"Did they talk about Dad too?"

"Your father garnered very little attention when compared to the conduct of his step-sisters. There was much speculation regarding his parentage when he was born, but his behavior was too honorable to warrant any consistent attention."

"Step-sisters?" Jim sounded baffled.

Takeru finally turned his attention to Jim and asked, "What do you and Spock actually discuss?"

"Not my family history! Step-sisters?"

"According to his records your father is the illegitimate son of your grandfather and one of his mistresses."

Jim blushed in horror at Takeru's blunt recitation of the facts and Takeru interceded, "According to my research it is widely considered a good thing to not be descended from Tiberius Kirk's wife."

"Tiberius Kirk? That was his name?"

Takeru quirked an eyebrow, "James, I am surprised you have not researched this subject."

"Hey! Everything there is to find out about George Kirk on the net, I know. But... I had to piggyback on the neighbor's connection, and they have so many filters up it's hard to get anything good. And my father's illegitimate family connections sound like the sort of thing they would've had blocked."

The eyebrow went higher and Jim could almost see Takeru plotting a way to get Jim's home better access to the net. "Indeed. Your grandfather was Captain Tiberius Kirk, his father was Admiral Julian Kirk, and his father was Ambassador Alexander Kirk."

"_Ambassador..._" Jim awed while Takeru ushered him out of the car and through one of the museum's back doors. They had to wind their way through the empty corridors to where the speeches were taking place. Jim practically bounded down the hall, ruffling the smooth lines of his suit, which were not designed to contain a bouncing human.

"You are pleased."

"I'm _excstatic_! I just found out more about my dad in the last five minutes than I have in my whole entire life!"

"I am pleased to have provided you such.. happiness."

Jim stopped mid-bound and stared at Takeru as though he was trying to decifer something terribly complicated. Takeru quirked an eyebrow in reply and Jim asked, "Why are you doing this for me?"

"Because Spock asked it of me."

"But Spock's not your boss, he's just a kid. A kid that the other Vulcans aren't big on. And I get that his dad's a big deal, but keeping my around just makes it harder for you to do your job, so why are you doing this?"

Takeru brushed past Jim and continued for the door, "It is my privilege to serve the house of Surak."

Jim snorted, "I don't believe you. Well, I'm sure it's a privilege and everything, but I don't think that's why you're doing it."

"What is your assumption then, James?"

Jim took the slight twinkle in Takeru's eyes as a good sign and replied, "Spock says my teacher is either xenophobic or stupid, so I don't think you wanna hear what she taught me about Vulcans."

"I am sure it cannot be worse than many of the things I have heard about my people over my many years."

Jim flushed and scuffed the toe of his new shoe on the pristine museum floor and muttered, "She'd think it was a life debt or something."

"May I inquire as to the meaning of 'life debt'?"

"LIke, that Sarek saved your life and now you owe him and his family until you pay it back."

"I fail to understand how this debt is any greater than the one I spoke of previously. My house will pay our forebearer's debt to Surak until we are no more, and yet you consider that insufficient motivation to guard Spock."

"Cause that's _totally_ not good enough! That happened thousands of years ago, and people don't pay debts for thousands of years!"

"A debt, by definition, exists until it is repaid in full. Never will our people be fully able to repay Surak for what he did for Vulcan, thus, the debt will never be repaid to his house."

"You're trying to be difficult."

"I am merely answering the questions you pose, James." he replied with a hint of teasing.

Jim stood his ground, crossing his arms and sticking his chin out in defiance. "You gave up the most any Vulcan could ask for, and I wanna know why. The _real_ reason."

"Why does this concern you?"

"Because Spock is my best friend, and that's the sort of thing you do for your best friend."

"Do you not believe Sarek is _my_ best friend?"

Jim snorted, "Seriously? 'Cause you don't seem all that buddy buddy."

The little human's rationale was faulty, but Takeru could not discern the truth from his little knowledge of the boy. Jim stood there, taking in Takeru's stare, every inch of him lined with stubborn, and Takeru nearly smiled, "It was illogical of me."

"Don't care."

"It felt correct."

Jim flushed at Takeru's admission and muttered, "Are you allowed to say things like that?"

"I am allowed to say what I wish, but I would appreciate it if you did not share my statements with others."

"No! I mean, of course not. You, you went for Spock because it _felt right_?"

The corner of Takeru's mouth twitched up and he replied, "As a whole, it is more complicated than that, but that is a fair approximation."

Jim grinned at him, wide and bright in the open way that Takeru had only seen humans manage, and reached out to take Takeru's hand. "You make me happy."

"I am unsure whether you mean that as a compliment or an insult." Jim just laughed and tugged Takeru along behind him.

#######

The first two speeches concerning the _Kelvin_ had been just as Sarek expected - highly personal and overly emotional. Humans enjoyed their dramatic conclusions, which is why 99.976% of the _Kelvin_ mission had been covered in the first two lectures, and the last 30 minutes of the mission (0.024%) would be given the same amount of lecture time after the lunch break.

Another human trait was their penchant to assume all was secure on their homeworld, which was the only logical reason Sarek could derive for why otherwise intelligent Federation officers would neglect to lower their voices to a decible beyond Vulcan hearing when they sought to be sneaky. Captain Pike, Admiral Archer, and the exhibit curator were all tucked in a corner, debating in terse whispers that Sarek could hear from across the room.

From what he could discern, the curator wanted to include a recording that was originally intended to be played with this afternoon's speech. Pike was snapping back in an ever-increasing volume that 'Jim is here! We can't play that!', while the curator maintained that they had consent from Winona Kirk, and Archer attempted to keep them quiet and from coming to blows.

While Sarek listened, Amanda slid up beside him and kept her formal smile in place while she murmured, "Takeru says that T'Pau and T'Yai have returned to the Embassy are available whenever James is. Considering there's probably going to be a fist fight, I thought it would be best to go now."

At that moment Pike released a hiss of displeasure that even non-Vulcans could hear, and people turned to stare. "I find your suggestion most logical, Wife. Let us depart."

Spock and James were huddled together in a far corner of the room while Amanda and Sarek did their diplomatic duties. Takeru stood close to the boys, and judging by the devious glint in his eyes, he was indulging in the Human activity of gossip, keeping the boys entertained with things his own sharp hearing had picked up. As always, Takeru knew Sarek's mind the moment he knew it himself, and Takeru easily guided the boys towards the door.

With a disdainful huff Pike abandoned his conversation and blew through the room, the irate set of his shoulders leaving others to scurry out of his path. He stormed to the door, arriving at the same moment as Sarek's family.

Jim shifted away from Spock and stepped into Pike's space. All his tension bled away from him at Jim's small arms reaching around him in an embrace. Jim tilted his head back to look up at Pike with warm blue eyes and said, "You look pissed."

Pike snorted out a laugh and replied, "I'm a captain. When people don't listen to me I get angry."

"The news feeds says Admiral Archer doesn't listen to anybody, so really, you should've expected that."

Pike tapped Jim on the back of the head and grinned, "Yeah, but Archer likes me more than everyone else, so I thought he might listen to me."

"Captain," Amanda interrupted, "You should join us for lunch at the Embassy."

Pike met her gaze, fully intending to decline and go back to his fight, but dozens of diplomatic missions had taught him to catch the firm set to her jaw, and the glint in her eyes that refused to take no for an answer. Pike nodded and respectfully replied, "Yes, ma'am."

Amanda smirked, "Don't ma'am me, Christopher. I'm not your mother." She swept out of the room with a smile, Sarek and Spock following along in her wake as though nothing about this day was odd.

PIke just stared at them, too stunned to follow. Jim giggled and grabbed his hand, pulling Pike along after. "Don't worry, you get used to being baffled by them."

Pike muttered to himself, "Somehow, I don't find that comforting."

#######

Healer T'Yai was widely regarded as the most talented seer to be born on any world in several generations. Most Federation planets had requested her counsel at one point or another over the last decades, though it was an honor rarely granted.

Despite his training, this was apparently a truth never taught to Captain Pike.

"Under no circumstances!" he shouted.

"Captain-"

"No, Ma'am. I'm the closest thing Jim has to family in this city and I _refuse_ to let some Vulcan psychic poke through his brain!"

Somewhere in the middle of the their small lunch Sarek had informed Jim that T'Yai was prepared to see him, and decorum dictated that he call on her sooner rather than later. After a few painfully impolite questions Pike discovered who T'Yai was, and was not taking the information well.

Sarek and Spock were uncomfortable with the Captain raising his voice at all, let alone in front of Amanda, but the humans just seemed mildly amused. Spock raised an eyebrow at Jim, who was picking his way through a vegetarian sandwich while ignoring Pike's frantic pacing. Jim smirked and replied, "I'm from Iowa, Spock. I'm not quite sure what to do with a sandwich that doesn't have any meat on it."

Spock furrowed at Jim's deliberate ignorance and nodded his head in the direction of Pike. "Oh!" Jim started. "You mean the freak out? Don't worry, humans do that all the time."

"Freak. out? Never have I seen my mother participate in such a ritual."

"Yeah, well, I think moms freak out about different things than guys. Pike's all panicked 'cause he thinks he's supposed to be protecting me from whatever he was fighting about with that curator, and he can't. So he's trying to protect me from something he really doesn't need to protect me from to feel better."

Spock stared in confusion, so Jim continued, "See, there's this whole 'alpha male' mentality to humans, where they think that they have to protect their families from everything bad that could ever happen. Pike has a worse case of it than normal because my dads dead, and Pike feels like he hasn't been around enough to take care of me. So, all that burden is just crashing down on his head and he can't handle it well. And Starfleet captains don't like feeling like they're out of their depth, and Pike is totally out of his depth with me. Your mom is just giving him a place to freak out where nothing bad will happen to him so he can go back to being the stoic captain he's supposed to be."

Spock actually heaved a sigh at that and replied, "I choose to not question how you have come by this information."

Jim grinned, "Probably best. I don't think you'd approve of daytime tv." Jim dropped his half eaten sandwich back to the plate and asked," Now, what room is T'Yai waiting in?"

Spock gave him directions to the sitting room down the hall, and with nothing more than a wink, Jim was off. Spock tried to make a grab for Jim, but the other boy waived him off and gestured to the adults, which was all the signal the Spock needed to guard the path behind him.

Jim slipped from the room, ignoring the way Pike was still yelling at nothing, and made his way down the silent hall to the office where T'Yai was waiting for him. He tapped lightly on the door, hoping not to draw attention to himself from any Vulcans who would ask why a human child was wandering around alone. Jim glanced up and down the hall, checking for a tail while the door snicked open.

The glow of the afternoon sun came pouring in through the room's wall of windows, bathing everything in warm light. T'Yai turned from her place before the windows and Jim fought the urge to gasp. T'Yai was long and tall, with pale blue eyes under delicately arched eyebrows, and a bob of white blonde curls atop her head.

"I am not what you expected."

Jim stuttered, "N-no. Not that there's anything wrong with you. At all."

"You were under the impression all Vulcans are old?"

"I thought you had to be ancient to get talked about the way Sarek talks about you."

Nothing in her expression changed, but Jim liked to think she was pleased. She gestured to the window bench before her and Jim shuffled over to sit. She glided down beside him and explained, "My parents are geneticists. I am an expression of almost every recessive Vulcan physical characteristic."

"Why would they do that?" Jim exclaimed.

"From your vehemence I presume you inquire why they made me different, not why they chose to pursue genetics." Jim nodded with an embarrassed flush at his outburst. "My parents believed it was irresponsible to begin suppression of traits until they were positive what those traits might effect. I was the culmination of their studies. That research allowed for successful recombination between Vulcans and other species."

"You couldn't just let people have their kids and see what happened?"

T'Yai reached out and ran a comforting hand through Jim's hair, calming the wisps of discomfort she caught leaking through his borrowed shields. "Vulcan DNA does not combine with other species' DNA in a natural environment. The Federation's best geneticists have yet to determine a reason. When Vulcan's attempt inter-species reproduction, scientific intervention is required or the child will miscarry. Vulcan traits must either be given precedence, or silenced entirely to ensure the preservation of the fetus."

"That's what they did to Spock."

"Indeed. Do not be concerned for him, if Vulcan's were to have emotional attachments I believe Spock would be my parent's favorite project."

Jim settled down on the bench, instantly more comfortable at that pronouncement. "How come?"

"Ambassador Sarek and Lady Amanda chose to embrace Spock's Vulcan genetics rather than stifle them, but there were still concerns that allowing for any elements of human within Spock would contaminate him to the point that he would be incomplete. They were reprimanded by the Vulcan Science Academy for even considering Spock's creation, and they were met with outrage by the actual attempt. And yet, despite all those concerns, Spock emerged with one of the most beautiful minds I have ever seen."

Jim blushed on Spock's behalf, and the corners of T'Yai's eyes crinkled in amusement at his state. T'Yai ghosted her hand down the side of Jim's face, brushing over his psy point. She tilted her head to the side and Jim felt like she was staring through him. He fidgeted for a moment then met her gaze head on and replied, "Are you seeing my future right now?"

"I do not see futures, James. I see possibilities. I see potential in your katra - your soul - and I see things about you which are set."

"Like, stuff I'm gonna do with my life?"

"No, those choices are yours, James. Your own path to walk. I can only see things that you carry inside you no matter the road you travel. I see that you are blindingly loyal, that you believe fear has no place in you, that you are sure you can do anything if you genuinely try, and that if you had been born in a different galaxy, on a world with no warp capabilities, you still would have found your way to Spock."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** All those people who ventured guesses, don't be mad a me for it not being what you thought it was. And remember, just because that's not what happened now, doesn't mean that won't happen later. Have a wonderful day, and thanks for reading!

* * *

_"I can only see things that you carry inside you no matter the road you travel. I see that you are blindingly loyal, that you believe fear has no place in you, that you are sure you can do anything if you genuinely try, and that if you had been born in a different galaxy, on a world with no warp capabilities, you still would have found your way to Spock." _

Jim grinned like T'Yai had just given him the best news ever, and he shuffled back to lean against the window behind him. "You take comfort in my assertion that you are intended to remain beside Spock," she stated as fact, though they both knew it was really a question about ever-confusing human behavior.

"Of course."

"You have known Spock for barely more than a day."

"Hey, a day is a really long time when you're my age."

Her eyebrow twitched up, "Indeed."

JIm just smirked in reply, "So, did you find what Sarek told you to look for?"

"The Ambassador did not inform me concerning the specifics of his suspicion so there could be no allegations that he colored my preceptions of you, but yes, I believe I discovered what he intended to share with me."

"And what's that?"

T'Yai paused and watched him for a long moment before answering, "You are very young. Moreso because you are human and have no training in the Vulcan disciplines."

Jim rolled his eyes, "Spock's going to teach me to meditate! And Sarek said I'd learn even more if the thing was what he thought it was. And since it is, I won't be untrained for long. _So_, you can tell me."

"That was an admirable attempt at logic, though a flawed, human approach to it."

Jim slumped in frustration and moaned, "Can't you just _tell me_?"

"If that is what you truly wish, then you and I can speak of this in private. However, your Captain Pike is very upset that he cannot locate you, and he is making his displeasure known. He seeks to stand with you, to protect you, and if we are to proceed without him I would have you be sure that you are sincere in your desire to exclude him."

Jim flushed and replied, "You do a very good job at that whole 'disappointed mom' thing."

She tipped her head in agreement and Jim shuffled out of the room to get Spock and the others. (She'd told him to get Chris, but she had to know that Spock's opinion was the only one that really mattered, and everyone else was just icing.)

Jim slipped back into the room where he'd left everyone and found Chris tucked in at a table beside Amanda, trying to not like like he despised the tea she was making him drink to calm him down. Pike looked up as the door snicked shut behind Jim and he looked ready to shout, but Amanda rested a calming hand on his arm and Chris pulled back. Jim glanced over at Spock and Sarek, who were both sitting on a bench on the other side of the room, their heads cocked to the side as though they were dissecting the situation, trying to understand what strange things the humans were doing now.

"James," Pike stared, sounding terribly unsure of himself, "We need to talk."

Jim quirked an eyebrow and plopped down on the far side of the table. "First off, I'm _Jim_. Calling me James isn't a good way to start this conversation. Second, you can't freak out when people want to _talk_ to me, especially when it's people Sarek and Amanda are cool with. Third, I have whatever it is Sarek thought I had, and Healer T'Yai wants to tell me about it, but she wants you to be there. So, are you gonna come and be cool about this, or am I doing this alone?" Jim put on his pained and lonely face, which was enough to damped any offense Chris might have taken.

Pike gave a long, slow, smile and got this faraway look in his eyes, like his mind was on a long ago memory. "Yeah kid, I'll be cool. Though I'd appreciate it if you didn't say that you've 'caught' somehing. Makes it sound like you've got the damn plague."

Jim laughed and bounded out of his chair while he said, "Hey, for all I know I might." Jim paused by the door and stared at the family still sitting behind him. "Are you coming?"

Sarek twitched an eyebrow, "Did you intend for us to join you?"

Jim rolled his eyes, "Of course. I won't understand what she's talking about without you. And, well..." Jim blushed, "she said I should be with people I trust , and that's you three."

Amanda gave a glowing smile and replied, "We are honored."

Jim pushed Chris along to the room where T'Yai was waiting and paused to laugh when Chris flushed at his first sight of the stunning, blonde Vulcan. He let the grownups settle wherever they wanted around the room, but grasped Spock's sleeve and pulled him to sit beside Jim and directly before T'Yai. "We're all here, now lemme have it."

T'Yai was silent for a moment, her gaze flicking back and forth between Spock and Jim, ardently studying the empty space between them. Then she pronounced, "James is a _svitan-nel-dath_."

Amanda gasped and Spock stiffened beside him at the words, causing Jim to twist around and demand of Spock, "I'm not gonna die, am I?"

"Quite the opposite." T'Yai interrupted, heading Jim off before he had the chance to get himself worked up. "It is not an ailment, or a defect, it is a gift."

Jim stared at her in disbelief, like nothing in the world could possibly be good if it made Spock so tense. Jim clasped Spock's hand, trying to draw some strength from him and silently seek an explanation, but Spock slipped his hand away from Jim's almost the moment he reached out. Jim thought Spock was just being stubborn and Vulcan at him, refusing to be touched in front of someone new, but Spock's expression was closed off. And not in the usual way where Jim could see everything playing under the surface anyway, but this time, Spock had truly shut him out.

Jim flexed his hand in the empty air beside him, then pulled back and dropped his hand in his lap, baffled and a little battered that Spock would refuse him. Jim shoved the pain into a corner in the back of his mind and turned to T'Yai with a cocky grin and afearless glint in his eyes. "So, what's this blessing about?"

The whole room had seen Spock take his hand back, and the small part of Jim willing to acknowledge it was grateful that everyone pretended they hadn't. "There is a pattern to all things, a design created by the universe as it moves forward. However, the pattern is undefined. It goes forward in no set way, responding to the choices each of us make and weaving accordingly, taking into account our free will. But there are events that _must_ happen to continue that pattern, to prevent the end of it. Vulcans believe that Surak's conversion to logic was one of these events."

The color drained from Jim's face at this pronouncement and he groaned out, "And, am _I_ one of those... events?"

"No, James. A person alone is never a fixed point necessary for the continuance, but a person may be _involved _in the events that must occur. That involvement can make an individual's existence necessary. That is how you are _svitan-nel-dath. _There is a purpose decreed for you, some end you are meant to fulfill that will preserve us all. You will be guided and protected until you accomplish the task set aside for you."

"But what does that _mean_?"

"Practically, that you will be considered extremely lucky, when in truth it will be much more. The laws of reality already bend around you, seeing you safety through to the other side of problems that would destroy others. Already you put yourself into situations where logic dictates that you should not survive, and yet you triumph."

"What sort-" Jim interjected, taking offense, but a snort from Pike interrupted him. "You hopped a seedy transport from a unsecured port in Iowa and roamed around San Francisco unescorted. That sort of _situation_." Jim smirked at Pike, fully aware from his tone that 'situation' meant something far worse (and laced with curse words).

"Hey, I'm fine, aren't I?" Jim replied snarkily.

"Just 'cause you live through something doesn't mean it wasn't a stupid plan."

T'Yai quirked an eyebrow at them and turned to Sarek to ask, "Is it typical of humans to avoid discussing matters of import by focusing on trivialities?"

"Come on, you just told the kid he's essential to the galaxy's continued survival, give him some time to freak out!" PIke snapped.

"Perhaps," Spock interjected, "it would be beneficial for James to have some time to himself. An opportunity to process this development."

Jim knew Spock's statement for the dismissal it was and nodded in pretend agreement. Jim's lip quivered for the barest of moments while he stared at Spock's profile, willing the Vulcan to just turn and_ look _him. When Spock refused to acknowledge his stared, Jim bit down on his quivering tell and bounded to his feet.

"Good plan, Spock." Jim said, and refrained from slapping him on the back like he would've before. Jim turned to Sarek and Amanda and said, "Thanks so much for looking after me, it's been great spending time with all of you. I really appreciate it." Jim nodded his thanks, keeping his gaze averted from either of Spock's parents, wanting to be out of the Embassy before Amanda tried to hug him and Jim started to cry. Spock was just sitting there, refusing to even look up and make eye contact with Jim, and it was killing him.

Jim broke off his nods and stumbled from of the room, with PIke trying to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Jim shrugged it off and tried not to think about what it meant that T'Yai was the one leading them to the exit rather than Sarek or Amanda. Something inside Jim ached at the thought that for no reason at all Spock had washed his hands of Jim, taking his parents with him.

Back in the room Amanda thunked down on the sofa across from Spock and glared at her son, who refused to look away from the wall he'd been focused on since T'Yai made her announcement. "I trust you have an explanation?"

"Explanation for what, Mother?"

Amanda pursed her lips, not entirely sure what to do with a intractable Spock, since for her he'd always been an agreeable child. "Why you shut down on Jim after we found out something that is sure to terrify him."

"I am a Vulcan, Mother. I am supposed to be 'shut down' at all times."

"You're deliberately evading the question."

"On the contrary-"

"Don't sass me, young man. Tell me why you just sent James out of here without you."

"It is only logical to allow James to take an opportunity to come to terms with his reality."

"You know, you can't just call something logical when you want to avoid talking about it."

"I do not wish to discuss the matter!" Spock snapped.

Sarek gently sat down beside him and placed a guiding hand on the back of Spock's neck. Together they drew several deep breaths, Sarek pulling his son along with him into a balanced state, one where he would not be ruled by the emotions that so plagued him today.

"He is _svitan-nel-dath_." Spock paused, and both his parents let the silence linger, giving him the chance to collect his words. "He is... _special_. Now that T'Yai is aware of this, it is her responsibility to report this matter to the High Council, and she will undoubtedly share her findings with her collegues. From there the knowledge will spread."

Sarek ran his hand lightly over the back of Spock's head, almost a reward for sharing his thoughts, and it was enough encouragement for him to continue. "I am... displeased. If we had not com across James until he was fully grown, he would have had some manner of mental shielding in place, and no one would ever know his path."

"Would you have preferred this, Spock?" Amanda gently asked.

Spock fought the urge to slump his shoulders and whispered, "I find that I would greatly prefer it."

"Why?"

"I had hoped that I might be allowed to, to _keep_ James. I have no desire to part from him. But if he is _svitan-nel-dath_, then that will be required. It is illogical to maintain a friendship I know will be terminated shortly."

"You believe that James will allow himself to be dictated to in such a manner?" Sarek questioned.

Spock leaned back against Sarek's hand, still running gentle, calming fingertips across the back of his neck. "He is special. The universe will give him what he needs to succeed."

"And you believe that you were only needed to see James safety to Christopher Pike, and that you are no longer necessary to his path."

"Indeed." Spock whispered.

"Come," Sarek insisted, "we will meditate together and decide how best to handle this situation."

Sarek looked down at Spock to see a sheen of unshed tears clouding his son's soft eyes and finished, "We shall concern ourselves with the theory that perhaps what is necessary to James' path, and what is necessary to James, are not the same thing, and over one, he has a choice."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Special chapter, just for those of you who wanted to see more Kirk&Pike time. Thanks for reading!

* * *

Jim knew Pike was staring at him from across the wide expanse that was the back seat of the hovercar, but Jim kept his stare planted firmly on the scenery whisking by his window. Pike wanted to understand what in the world was going on, but Jim wasn't in the mood to help him figure it out. Pike had tried, and failed, to start several conversations hoping to lead in to the real issue, and he was at the end of his rope.

Jim was too busy trying to stay mad at Spock to pay any real attention to Pike. After all, listing to himself all the ways that Spock sucked was really Jim's only recourse for not thinking about stupid it was for him to trust someone he barely knew. The people Jim was supposed to trust most in the world kept letting him down, so why should Spock be any different? Frank was a bastard who used the Kirk name to skate through life, and every time Winona looked at Jim she wailed like George had just died all over again. Jim figured that eventually he'd turn out just like Sam, too bruised to give a crap about people anymore, but Jim wasn't there yet.

When T'Yai had announced that Jim was meant to be friends with Spock, tied to him no matter what happen, some part of Jim unclenched, relaxed in a way Jim had never thought possible. For all of five minutes Jim had been blissful with that security, certain that whatever T'Yai had to tell him didn't matter at all, because he finally had someone to keep. Jim would have Spock by his side forever, with Spock never crying at the mere sight of him, never telling him life was too complicated for Spock to want to stick around.

But then... then Spock had just smacked the crap out of that lovely rose-colored feeling. And really, what kind of kid _didn't_ want to hear that his best friend was going to be a hero? That meant that Spock got to be a hero too! Hadn't Spock learned _anything_ from his Saturday morning cartoons?

Jim wound himself into a little ball of irritation, ignoring the tense set to Pike's shoulders, and how the man radiated unease. Pike had never done this sort of thing before and had no idea how to proceed, and Jim wasn't really in the mood to teach him. Pike cleared his throat and shuffled a little in his seat, finally saying, "Your dad and I had a fight."

"That's impressive," Jim snarked, and Pike bit his tongue to keep from reprimanding this child like he would've done one of his officers. Jim was just a kid, albeit a kid with the gift to sneak under Pike's skin and root around in a way no one had since George.

"It was right before he died," Pike continued, hoping that the way Jim froze at the mention of George wasn't a bad sign. "It was a fight we'd had on and off for years, and he tried to talk to me about it _again_. I, um..." pause to clear his throat, "lost my temper. I yelled at him, flicked off the comm, and ignored his messages for the next few days. He was the best friend I will ever have, and he died thinking I was mad at him. No matter how long I live, I don't know if I'll be able to forgive myself for that."

Jim pulled up his legs and wrapped his arms around them, tucking himself into a ball and asked, "What was the fight about?"

Pike puffed out a breath and knew this was one of those moments that would make or break his relationship with Jim. He could lie (like he desperately wanted to), or tell the truth and run the risk of the kid hating him anyway.

"If you don't wanna tell me..." Jim added, but Pike interjected, "No, I really don't, but you deserve to know the truth. I'm warning you, you're probably not going to like it, but I want you to know that I don't ever mean to lie to you."

Pike hissed out a breath between his teeth and continued, "So, your Mom and I, we, um..."

"Despise each other," Jim interjected.

"I was gonna go with 'haven't ever really gotten along', but I suppose that's accurate."

"How come?"

"You really don't ask the easy questions, do you? We had a difference of opinion about how your father should be spending his life."

Jim snorted, "That's the most Starfleet answer I've ever heard. I don't even know what that means."

"I know, that's why I said it."

"If this is your version of honesty-"

"Kid!" Pike snapped, then drew a deep breath, finding his center again. "I'm not lying, it's just complicated. And I think these are some details that aren't going to make sense until you're older. I'll promise that if you ask me later, when you're fully grown, I'll tell you everything."

'What could I possibly understand then that I don't understand now?"

"If you have to ask that quetsion, then you're not ready."

Jim grumbled, and Pike decided to take that as agreement. "Your dad and I had a shouting match over something to do with your Mom, which is the ony thing we ever fought about, by the way."

"Why?"

"Why did we fight?"

"Not like, the substance of the fight, 'cause I get that's off the table, but why fight about Mom? Why get angry over some girl?"

PIke couldn't help but grin in remembrance at the clear logic of children and how to them nothing could ever possibly be more important than your best friend. "The mother of your children isn't just 'some girl', Jim. Though when your father died I was still young enough to agree with you."

Jim raised an eyebrow, obviously working out the math, and Pike tangented to explain. "I was 21 when your father died, and he was 25. Not young enough to be a kid, but I've always been a little over-attached when it came to your dad. We'd been better than brothers since my first memory, and stayed that way through everything. Tiberius died when George was 16, and the bi-... _stepmother_, disowned George before the funeral even started. She wanted George to be humiliated and alone, just like she thought she was when Tiberius came home from a five year mission with a son. But George never believed in doing things the way he was supposed to, so instead of moping he enrolled early acceptance at Starfleet. He went off to school, and actually met your mother the first day. I was 13 when George left, and I admit I never took it well when he started talking about the girl he was spending all his time with."

Jim had finally looked away from the window to focus his attention on Pike, "The two of you were never at the Academy together?"

Pike leaned back and got a soft smile, sinking into the happy memories. "George graduated when he was 20 and I was 17. I didn't start at the Academy until 18, like a normal person, so we were never enrolled at the same time, or got the chance to serve on the same ship. We did comm each other almost every day for all those years though, so it was like we were never really apart. Actually, the fight in question was the longest we'd ever gone without speaking to one another."

"So, you don't like Mom 'cause you didn't want to share Dad with her?"

Pike had the grace to flush and muttered, "That's another one of those things we can talk about later. Much, _much_, later."

Jim slunk across the seat and nestled in next to Chris, murmuring, "I think I get it. Someone waltzing in and taking your best friend from you, someone you don't want to give up, I could see being pissed about that." Jim whispered to himself, "Being pissed _forever_."

Chris wrapped an arm around him, pulling Jim tight against his side and dropping a kiss onto the boy's blonde hair. "You'll always have me, kid. And I'm sure Spock just needs time to adjust."

"Vulcans don't _adjust_ to things, Chris. They're Vulcans, they're supposed to come pre-adjusted."

Pike stiffled a laugh and replied, "I don't think you can ever really come pre-adjusted to your best friend being necessary to the fate of the universe."

Jim popped up and exclaimed, "But he should be excited! I mean, whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing, he should be with me! Think about all the great stuff we could do together!"

Pike ran a soothing hand through Jim's hair and asked, "Does Spock know that? Does he know that you want him as your right hand man?"

Jim dropped back to Pike's side and huffed, "If he doesn't, he _should_."

"And I'm sure he will, you've just got to give him time."

"Time?" Jim snorted, "I'm on a shuttle out of here in two days, we don't have time."

"_Jim_," Chris laughed, "You're _ten._ It's not like that shuttle is the last boat of Klingon. And you can sure as hell bet that no matter what's up with Spock, Amanda isn't going to let you go until she's good and ready. And Ambassador Sarek will take care of whatever it is you're rushing back for."

Jim turned his hopeful eyes up to Chris and asked, "Really?"

Pike grinned, "And if they don't, I will. You're not going anywhere unless you choose to, kid."

Jim wrapped his arms around Chris and squeezed with all his strength, telling Pike thank you when words failed him. Chris clung to Jim in return, and for the first time in ten years, he felt whole again.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** I know, it's a little short, but it's a little more intense than the other chapters have been. Thanks so much for reading and if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to studying ;)

* * *

Really, Pike should've known better. He vaguely remembered what it was like to be ten, male, and associate with a Kirk. He knew that telling a kid not to do something was like dipping the forbidden action in chocolate and just _daring_ the kid to try.

This universal truth shouldered it's way into the forefront of Pike's mind when Number One hissed at him to 'turn around and _look_', and there was Jim.

With every chair filled and officers lining the aisles the auditorium was packed to the brim for the afternoon's final lecture. Pike had left Jim with an Ensign doing an internship with the museum and gave orders to show Jim everything interesting on the opposite. side. of the building. Considering that Jim had skipped town without anyone noticing, Pike probably should've known that Jim would slip his guide and turn up in one place PIke desperately didn't want him to be.

Jim was hiding beside the exit, tucked behind a bundle of Ensigns while he tried to look small and inconspicuous. The lecture was about the _Kelvin's_ last mission and was winding down to dangerous territory. Pike's only thought was that he needed to get Jim out of here _now_. Pike popped out of his seat and shuffled past Number One and down the packed row, trying to get to Jim and haul him out of the room before he heard the tape.

Chris had been fighting with the damn curator all day, trying to make the half-dead old man understand that once the tape was played, Starfleet would never be able to get it back in the box. Someone in the room was bound to have a recorder, despite the rules insisting they keep all recording equipment out. Pike would lay odds that half an hour after the meeting adjourned the tape would be up on the net, and by tomorrow morning every news outlet worth their salt would be spreading it through the Federation.

Pike just added this whole mess to the ever-increasing list of reasons why he despised Winona. She'd granted permission to the museum to play the tape of the _Kelvin's_ last minutes, which was nothing more than the painfully private audio of George's last, heartbreaking goodbyes.

The mature part of Chris tried to tell himself that Winona could never have anticipated that Jim would turn up at the opening to hear it, and even if he didn't, George had always protected her from the media (and she'd spent so long away from Earth) that she couldn't know the frenzy to be started by the audio of the dying seconds of a Kirk. But all those rationalizations led him back around to the angry place where Winona didn't give a shit about the damage this would do to her kids.

Pike finally shuffled out of his irritated row and ducked around the Fleet members clogging the aisle in clear disregard of fire safety protocols while he headed for the exit. Jim had never heard George's voice before, never known the gentle confidence that flooded George's approach to life, and this shouldn't be how George and Jim were introduced. Pike started getting aggressive as he went, pushing aside the others as he stepped past, trying to go faster than they'd let him.

But he wasn't fast enough.

Pike caught the click of the recorder echoing through the silent room and he tried to shove forward, barreling through the others, but the damage had already begun. The audio began to play and Winona's frantic demands ripping through the background sounds of battle, and Pike froze. _"George,"_ she asked over the audio, _"the shuttle's leaving, where are you?"_

_"Sweetheart," _George calmed her, _"I'm not gonna be there. This is the only way you'll survive."_

_"You're still on the ship."_ She said in an anguished whisper. Pike forced himself to move forward, trying to at least spare Jim facing this alone.

_"The shuttles will never make it if I don't fight them off."_ George kept his voice level, but every officer in the Fleet knew the faint tapping in the background as George fighting to target enemy torpedos and take them out one by one to buy the shuttles time.

_"I can't do this without you..." _Winona sobbed, only to be broken off by the doctor insisting she push.

Pike stumbled past the last of the listeners, stopping before a trembling Jim. The background sounds of the battle filled the auditorium: the groans of buckling metal, the zing of phasers slicing through shields, all offset by the screams of Winona enduring the birth of her son. Suddenly the shudders of a dying ship torn apart by torpedos and the squeals of red alert were cut through by the clear ringing cry of new life.

Pike could see it in Jim's eyes, in the tear tracks carving down his sweet face: the boy hadn't known.

Chris had never liked Winona, but on his darkest days he could understand why she had done what she did, and Pike admitted to himself that had he been a lesser man, he might've done exactly the same. But _this_, this was unforgivable. Winona had moved heaven and earth, willfully destroying several lives, just to be with George Kirk, and yet she had the gall to not cherish what George had died to give her? Jim didn't know that George had done it for him?

_"What is it?"_ George asked, still so full of hope. Pike had to close his eyes at that, fighting back his own tears at how excited George must've still been, even though he'd never see his son.

_"A boy."_ Winona replied, with the sort of awe Chris had once hoped she'd always show her son.

_"A boy! Tell me about him."_ George had to be staring down the gaping maw of the _Narada_ by now, and all he wanted was to hear about his son.

_"He's beautiful. I wish you could see him." _She whispered.

Pike could hear sniffling from all sides, battle hardened officers fighting not to cry at the background echo of the _Kelvin_ announcing 'impact alert' while George ignored it to ask, _"What are we gonna call him?"_

_"We could name him after your father..." _Pike bit down on his tongue, tossing aside his rage at Winona and refusing to let her hunger for the Kirk's good graces pollute the image he had of George in his mind's eye. With a perfect replica of George before him Pike could almost imagine exactly what George would've looked like in those last moments. The strength and peace he would've managed despite his fear.

_"Tiberius, are you kidding me? No, that's the worst."_ Pike smiled at the grin he could hear in George's voice. _"Lets name him after your dad, let's call him Jim."_

At Jim's strangled sob, Chris' eyes flew open. The boy had his arms wrapped around his chest, fighting back the urge to collapse in on himself. Pike suddenly realized that Jim didn't know that the name he'd picked for himself was always meant to be his name, not James.

_"_Jim_... ok, Jim it is."_ Winona whispered.

_"Sweetheart? Can you hear me?_" George all but shouted, fighting to carry his last words over the collapse of his ship. "_I love you so much. I love you!" _

And then there was nothing.

Just the ringing thunder of the dying explosion before the communications cut out.

Jim was gasping as he tried to beat back his tears, and for the first time since Jim came into the world, Pike did what felt right. He strode forward and plucked up the trembling child, cradling him close to his chest as he burst out of the room. Pike ran a soothing hand up and down Jim's back, trying both to calm his frantic breathing and to convince Jim that it was safe for him to cry.

Pike was so busy getting Jim to safety that he didn't even realize he was heading to the museum's front doors (and all the paparazzi) until Number One grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and hauled him down a side corridor. He vaguely heard her snip at someone on the other end of her comm line, threatening dismemberment if he didn't get her hovercar to a drop point two streets away. Pike stared at her over the top of Jim's head and asked, "Are you threatening the valet?"

"Would you rather getting photographed at the front door?" She snapped.

"I'm not complaining, I just don't know how you have the valet's comm number."

Number One stared at him with a look that screamed, 'that just might be the stupidest thing you've ever said to me,' and Pike muttered, "You know, I don't wanna know."

She smirked, "I thought we established a long time time ago that if you want my results you shouldn't ask me how I got them."

Pike felt the shake of Jim's shoulders shift from pent up tears to a stiffled giggle. Number One winked at Pike in triumph and moved to the side door. Pike shifted Jim so he could see Number One pop open the emergency exit's security monitor and sift through wires. PIke could feel Jim's curiosity so he whispered to him, "She's disabling the door's security."

Number One tugged out several multi-colored wires and swung the door open into the alleyway, stopping to turn to Jim and smirk, "Don't worry, I'll teach you." Jim gave her slightest of smiles before all three of them slipped out into the night.

Number One led them safely down a path that cut through back alleys to finally emerge at her waiting hovercar. Pike devoutly ignored how she locked lips with the waiting valet to thoroughly distract him from who she was sneaking around with. And if she promised to meet up with the valet later (in a tone of voice that Pike knew meant she was lying) then Pike kept all commentary to himself.

Pike set Jim down on the middle seat of Number One's little coupe, then wrapped his arms around the boy and tucked him against his side. Number One climbed in and reved the engine, barreling down the road toward her unlisted apartment. Jim poked his head up and stared out the window in confusion. "We're heading to my place, kid." Number One announced without even looking over at Jim.

"C-can..." Jim trailed off, waiting for Pike to nod his consent, "Can I go to the Embassy?"

"Aren't you in a fight with your little Vulcan?" Number One asked in her typical painfully blunt way.

Jim flushed but stubbornly replied, "Fight doesn't mean he doesn't care."

Number One opened her mouth to spit out something derisive about a Vulcan's natural inability to give a crap, but Pike smacked her before she could get the words out. "Are you sure that's what you want Jim?"

"Yeah, I mean, that's where all my stuff is."

Pike raised an eyebrow at the rather thin justification and Jim muttered, "It's _Spock_. He cares."

Jim looked up at Pike with pure pleading and asked, "Please, Chris?"

Number One didn't even wait for Pike to acknowledge the question, knowing full well that he'd cave to the request before Jim had even asked. She grumbled as she flipped the car around heading towards the Embassy.

#######

Amanda sat in one of the many sitting rooms on the Embassy's main floor, staring off into nothing. Spock and Sarek had meditated for much longer than normal, attempting to find Spock's calm center, but her son had still gone to bed morose. Amanda chose to be grateful that she'd made such a thorough study of all Sarek's tells, because it was the only way to decifer the emotions of her son.

The other Vulcans left her in peaceful isolation which let her fretting go on unhindered. What few Vulcans dared to enter the room were quickly sent away with a glare from T'Pau. Amanda was sure that T'Yai's report about Jim had already gone out and the gossiping biddies were only there to seek information about the little human.

From her protective place beside the door T'Pau intruded, "Your concern is illogical."

"Jim is human. Human children don't take rejection well, and with Jim's background believing that his trust in Spock was misplaced might well be crippling."

"You believe they will fail to reconcile?"

"I believe that if they're both left to stew in their own stubbornness that will make it difficult."

T'Pau tipped her head to the side, as though she was attempting to puzzle something out about Amanda. "James is _svitan-nel-dath._ Their combined stubbornness is not equal to what will be required of him. If Spock is necessary to James then he will have him."

Amanda bit back the urge to say something about the human concept of free will, but stopped mid-word when she saw Spock dash past the room's open door. Amanda rose from her chair and followed Spock down the hall and to the Embassy's front door, stalwartly ignoring the eyebrow quirks that were the Vulcan equivalent of horrified grimaces. Spock skirted around the Vulcans who controlled the building's security and slid straight into a waiting Jim.

By the time Amanda caught up to them Jim was tossing his hands in the air and ranting to Spock in a string of incomplete thoughts. "He _died_, Spock! He let himself get blown all to hell,- and _he _named me,- and I was supposed to be _Jim_, not James,- and loved me, that was the last thing said! And I didn't know that! How could I not know that!"

Every Vulcan in the room stared at Jim and his freak out with shock, as though none of them knew what to do in such a situation. Amanda tried not to smile as she put a soft hand on Jim's shoulder and said, "Perhaps we should continue this conversation somewhere that's not the front door?"

Jim nodded abruptly but didn't waste time on his usual blush, he merely grabbed Spock's hand and hauled him along behind, dashing up the stairs and off to Spock's room.

Amanda watched the boys scamper off, leaving a trail of baffled Vulcans in their wake. She turned to Pike who was standing in the door with his first officer, who was looking at him like she thought he might collapse at any moment. "Would you like some tea, Captain?"

"Actually, I'd like some scotch."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** You all blew. my. mind. with the amount of reviews you left me on the last chapter, so for you reading pleasure I give you the longest chapter yet. Specially written for those of you who wanted to know the truth behind Winona v. Pike. Thanks for reading!

* * *

The good captain's scotch sat before him completely ignored. Number One sat beside Pike, stiff and unbearably awkward, occasionally breaking her pose long enough to fix death glares at the back of her captain's skull while he sat there with this head in his hands ignoring everything. Amanda had been valiantly attempting to made polite conversation with Number One, but the woman seemed incapable of returning the effort. After spending more than a decade surrounded by Vulcans, who could make conversation (albeit stuffy conversation) with their worst enemies, Amanda couldn't help but be mildly concerned that _these_ were some of the best negotiators Starfleet had in their ranks.

Amanda was the consummate hostess, despite her guest's discomfort, and had seen to it that they were both fed and watered while they officers unknowingly waited on Sarek to return with the boys' status. After several minutes of Number One replying to her questions in nothing more than grunts Amanda gracefully rose and clicked the call button on the comm beside the door. Within a minute one of the many Embassy workers stepped silently into the room and without so much as an eyebrow twitch took orders from Amanda to prepare quarters for their guests. (Amanda kept her amusement to herself that the Vulcan help was better at keeping their emotions to themselves than the Vulcan Ambassadors.)

Number One traced Amanda's movements across the room, subtly reaching for a phaser that wasn't there. Long years of practice had taught Amanda how to project calm and safety to those with a happy trigger finger. "I hope it's not too presumptive," Amanda demured, "but I've arranged rooms for the both of you should you decide to spend the night."

At that, Pike finally lifted his head and placed a calming hand on Number One's knee before she snapped out something about how they were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. "Thank you," Pike replied in a hush.

Amanda sat down across from him, taking in Pike's tired eyes and decided to interfere. "I'm a mother, Christopher."

Pike twitched an eyebrow, "Yes, ma'am. I noticed."

The corner of Amanda's mouth quirked in reply and she continued, "That means I've had some experience dealing with entractable boys, if you'd like to talk about it."

Pike huffed and ran his hand through his brown hair once again, causing it to jut out in all directions and make the captain look painfully young. "I screwed up and Jim's suffering for it." Number One's knee started to bounce incessantly, which was her only sign of her discomfort at Pike discussing this; though whether she was upset with Pike dicussing it with Amanda, or discussing it at all, Amanda wasn't sure.

"If I may ask, how exactly do you believe you've 'screwed up'?"

"I shouldn't have left him to stay with his damn mother in the first place!" Pike snapped.

"Ah, yes, because the Federation justice system is always more than willing to separate the widow of a war hero from her newborn son. I can't imagine why you didn't start proceedings immediately," Amanda replied, which was finally enough to get Number One to smirk.

Pike lept to his feet and started pacing, and Amanda couldn't help but notice the similarities between James and the man before her. Pike murmured something under his breath, and after a very polite "Pardon me?" from Amanda he snapped back, "She wasn't George's widow!"

Pike realized a half a second too late what he'd shouted, and froze with a flush. Amanda quirked her eyebrow in a perfect demand that he continue, and Pike stuck out his chin in reply, silently refusing. Number One rolled her eyes and said, "Cap was in love with Kirk."

"_Number One_!" Pike hissed, but Amanda swiftly turned back to him in disbelief and demanded, "What?"

Pike's flush deepened and he shrugged his shoulders as if to say, 'What's so odd about that?' "How could you be in love with George Kirk and have no one know about it? That's the sort of story humans talk about for _years_ after the fact, even longer given how Captain Kirk died."

"Even if people talked about it, how would you know?" Number One questioned. "You live on Vulcan, surrounded by _Vulcans_ who don't have it in 'em to gossip."

Amanda smirked at the other woman and replied, "They don't consider it gossip, they consider it 'intelligence gathering'."

Number One's jaw dropped and she muttered, "Well I'll be damned. And with that Vulcan hearing they must know practically everything."

"Indeed. The moment it became apparent that Jim was going to become a permanent fixture in our lives Takeru, our chief of security, found out everything there was to know about the Kirks and anyone they've had associations with."

"Why?" Pike asked.

"You cannot properly protect someone if you do not know from where the threats may originate." Sarek answered evenly from the door.

"How's Jim?" Pike asked before Sarek even had the chance to properly enter the room.

"He is well. I have guided him through a meditation intent on rebuilding his shields and he has found some measure of stability. I have left my own shields around his mind to preserve his mental peace and I anticipate a 65% chance that he will sleep soundly through the night. Should he not, I will be aware of it and proceed to compensate for such a disturbance."

"Where is he?"

Sarek paused for the barest of moments before replying, "He has chosen to remain with Spock." Amanda could see that Sarek wanted to offer some justification for allowing them to stay together, probably once again in the same bed, but he refrained.

Pike puffed out, "That's good," and dropped back down beside Number One. "Thanks for looking after him Ambassador, I don't know what we would've done for Jim on our own."

"Indeed?" Sarek quirked an eyebrow and took his place beside Amanda much more gracefully than Pike had assumed his place beside Number One. "I would seek to know how James came to listen to the audio recording of his father's death."

Amanda gasped, and didn't feel embarrassed at all for her human response.

Pike slouched back in his seat and explained, "The fight with the curator earlier was about the last few minutes of audio from the _Kelvin's_ black box. After the Fleet reviewed the whole destruction they turned those minutes over to Winona's exclusive control and deleted every copy in existence except for the one she had access to."

"I find it unlikely that Starfleet would so willingly part with anything in their possession."

"You and me both Ambassador, but there was nothing to be learned from the audio. They still have all the records of the orders given, and every last key stroke Jim made fighting off the _Narada_, but the audio didn't matter to them." Pike drew a deep breath and finished, "It was just George saying goodbye."

Amanda bit her lip to keep from saying something unpleasant and let Sarek take the lead instead. "Judging from James' reaction and his repetition to Spock of specific elements of this file, I presume that James was unaware of the contents of the audio."

"Sitting down and listening to the audio with Jim or telling him anything_ at all_ about George would require more patience then Winona's ever been capable of," Pike snorted.

Sarek raised an eyebrow, "I see. Given what I I know of your personality I find it unlikely that your distaste for Lieutenant Kirk stems only from your... association with her husband."

Pike actually grinned at Sarek's word choice and replied, "No wonder you're an ambassador. That was the most non-offensive way I've ever heard to ask me if we had a fling. I'm totally keeping that one for my own future use."

Sarek's eyebrow went higher. "I lack sufficient data to determine whether your association with Captain Kirk could qualify as a 'fling'."

"How about a tryst?" Number One smirked.

"No." Sarek stiffly replied.

"Really? What about a rendezvous, or better yet, an _affair_?"

Amanda smiled ay the teasing but interrupted before Sarek and Number One could get warmed up, "Captain Pike doesn't seem like the sort of man to have affairs."

Pike thunked his head back against the back of the couch and replied, "No, but life would be very different if I was. Though I'd have had to convince George to be that sort of man as well, and that's unlikely."

Sarek and Amanda both sat in silence, letting the quiet draw out until Number One elbowed Pike in the ribs and gave him a look that demanded he just tell them the truth already. Pike heaved out a put upon sigh solely to irritate Number One, and explained. "So, short version. George was my best friend, but he went to the Academy when I was 13 and met Winona the first day. George was 16, she was 18, and she decided the first time she saw him that she wanted to marry the infamous, illegitimate Kirk son. George, being the gentle, trusting, idiot that he was, didn't realize she wanted him.

"Later, when George was in his third year at the Academy, I realized he wasn't just my best friend, I was half mad in love with him. George said he'd been waiting for years for me to be old enough to figure that out." Pike stopped to give the barest of smiles at the good memory before he continued.

"To Winona, I went from being the irritating best friend of the man she wanted to actual competition, and she hated me. Not gonna lie, she'd spent three years spending every class of every day of every week trying to get my boyfriend to sleep with her, and I hated her too. They ended up on the same ship after graduation and she kept trying, but George loved me. He loved her too, that's just the kind of open-hearted guy he was, but to him she was a best friend, and I was a husband."

Pike's rambling half-smile twisted into pain as he confided, "I insisted we wait until after I graduated from the Academy. He'd already been out in the field a year when I joined up, and wanted to make a name for _myself,_ not as George's husband. He understood that. Hell, George always understood."

Pike seemed to realize he'd stopped and cleared his throat before barreling back into the plot. "Anyway, we tried to see each other every shore leave he had, but one time when he was spending the night alone on some pleasure planet, Winona went out to a bar and picked up a guy who looked like George and got herself pregnant. Whether or not it was an accident was the source of many arguments between George and I. Either way, she turned to her best friend in desperation about what both the Fleet and her father would do to her for having a kid out of wedlock, and George married her."

Pike caught Amanda's stifled gasp and he replied, "Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. He gave me a whole speech about how it didn't have to change anything, it was just to protect _Winnie_ and her son, and how her family was so religious they wouldn't take care of the baby if they knew she'd gotten herself pregnant on shore leave. It's taken me years, but now I can see why George did it. It's nothing less than he would've done for me. Though," Pike snorted, "I didn't take the news well at the time.

"I broke it off with George, didn't talk to him for months, and that was enough time for George to fall madly in love with the whole situation. George liked love, and he liked marriage, and the thought of being someone's father lit up his life like nothing had before. I didn't speak to him again until after Sam was born, and by then their marriage wasn't fake anymore."

Pike sounded so forlorn that it was all Amanda could do to keep from wrapping her arms around him and comforting him like she did with Spock. "I was 19, I handled it like the stupid, brokenhearted kid that I was, and every time I went on a date, or spent the night in someone else's apartment trying to lose myself, Winona made sure George found out from one of the younger crewmen who used to be our friend. I can't really blame him for moving on when it sure as hell looked like I had."

Chris trailed off into silence until Number One gently prodded him, "And then, Cap?"

"Then? Then we tried to be friends. So long as we ignored everything except the two of us we fit together rather well. I still lost it when he tried to talk to me about Winona, and the day I found out she was pregnant with a son that was actually George's I got so drunk I couldn't remember my own name. Then he died, and I ignored every Kirk on the planet, including the one in this building who looks and sounds just like George. Which is how we got here, with Jim finding out shit that he should've known years ago, he should've been rocked to sleep at night being told how much his daddy loved him, and he shouldn't have had to learn that George was the only thing his mother wanted, and without him, Sam and Jim don't matter." Pike spat out the end of his story with pained bitterness.

Neither of the women knew what to say. Number One had wrangled the story of Pike several years into their service together with a bottle of bourbon greasing the way and she hadn't honestly expected her Cap to share the story with strangers. For Amanda it had been so long since she had comforted a human with a broken heart that she was out of practice.

Oddly enough it was Sarek who spoke the words neither woman could quite find. "I grieve with thee."

Pike's head shot up and he stared at Sarek in disbelief. "It is a traditional Vulcan expression of shared grief."

"Yeah, I just, um... wasn't expecting that."

"Should Amanda have married another man and born him a child my grief would have been overwhelming. I would have had the tenants of logic to console me, but you have born your grief alone. Given the increasing interdependency of your godson and my son it is only logical that you should be informed that I mourn your loss with you, and I lament that you have had to bear it alone."

Sarek consoled him with such understated fervor that Chris was surprised by how much Sarek's words touched him. Before Pike could scramble together something to say, Sarek cocked his head to the side, as though he heard something the rest of them weren't privy to. Sarek excused himself with a nod and an 'I will return shortly'.

"Does he always run out of the room after saying something that blows my understanding of Vulcans all to hell?" Number One muttered.

Amanda smiled back, "He does have a gift for dramatic timing."

"He didn't just make something up so he could avoid the Cap botching a heart to heart though, did he?"

"No, given his immediate departure I would guess that he felt something from Jim."

Pike started up out of his seat saying, "I should go-"

Amanda waived him down, "No Christopher, it's probably nothing more than a bad dream and Sarek is just fretting."

"And if it's not?"

"You would do him more harm than good at this moment."

Pike slumped in his chair, wanting to be offended that she would think he could ever be of harm to Jim, but not having the energy for it. Number One smacked him on the back of the head and said, "Don't be an idiot, Cap. I'm psi-null and_ I_ know you're pissed. What do you think is going to happen when Spock takes a look at you? And the kid is smart, he probably won't even need psychic interference to know something's wrong. You can't calm the kid if you're not calm in the first place."

Pike turned to her and muttered, "How in the hell did you get so good at this?"

Number One just snorted in reply.

#######

When Sarek stepped silently into Spock's room he was... baffled. Given that this was a state uncommon for a Vulcan such as he, Sarek thought he could be forgiven for freezing just inside the doorway while he assembled the facts before him in a logical manner.

First: James was crying. Though Amanda - with her human fondness for unnecessarily specific descriptors - would most likely say he was sobbing. Given the tumult of James' mind over the last few minutes Sarek had expected to find James in an emotion state. However, his expectations had not developed beyond that point.

Second: Spock was... _hugging _James. However, Spock had his arm and legs wrapped around the other boy, cocooning Jim in Spock's strength while the little human buried his face in Spock's shoulder and shook with tears, Sarek was not positive that 'hugging was an accurate description.

Third: given the grief that was pouring off the child, Sarek wondered how Spock could stand to touch him.

Spock tilted his face up from where he was whispering soothing words in James' ear and caught Sarek's gaze. Spock was crying as well, eyes the same brown as his mother were glassy with tears and almost pleading with Sarek to make it better. Sarek immediately left off his recitation of the facts and strode over to the bed, using his Vulcan strength to lift both the boys into his arms. He abandoned his Vulcan dignity and sat down on the middle of the bed, leaning against the headboard and tucking the boys against his sides.

Jim snuggled himself against Sarek and sobbed all the harder, though he kept one hand wrapped around Spock's wrist. Spock sagged against Sarek with freedom from the tumult of Jim's mind coming as a relief. Sarek thought about shifting them again to break their one point of contact, but then Spock twisted his hand to grasp Jim's wrist in return.

Sarek blamed Amanda entirely that a small part of him mourned that soon Spock's psi-sensitive points would become sensitive in another way, and the boys would no longer be able to cling to one another as they seemed so fond of doing. Sarek chose to leave the illogic of permitting Spock to indulge in this at all for meditation at a much later date. Amanda would say that Spock was happy and nothing else mattered, and in this moment, Sarek could not bring himself to disagree.

Eventually James stilled and with a sniffle apologized for interrupting whatever Sarek had been doing. "I would not abandon you to your nightmares, James."

Kirk froze and tilted his head back to look up at Sarek with petrified eyes. "Did you see them?" he whispered.

"The nightmares were vivid, so you shared images with me as well as the emotions."

James flushed and tried to pull away, muttering his embarrassed apologies, but Spock clenched tighter on his wrist and refused to let go. "You are being illogical, Jim."

"I made your dad sit through my stupid dreams, Spock!"

Sarek shifted Jim back to his place along Sarek's side and replied, "You cannot make me do things I do not choose to do myself, especially as pertains to psychic contact. If I did not wish to share in your pain James, I would have removed my shielding from around your mind and left you to bear it alone."

"So you're not, like, _mad_ or anything?"

"Of course not, James. Now sleep, I will keep the nightmares at bay." Jim buried his face in Sarek's shoulder and Sarek felt the tension slip from his small body, but that sensation was nothing compared to the blinding gratitude that Spock felt for his father's choice to behave in so human a manner. Considering the peace of the boys finally sleeping beside him, Sarek found he could not regret the decision either.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm sure some of you disagree with my perception of Sarek, and after watching only XI I would disagree with me too. But I just watched The Search for Spock and Sarek was being illogical all over the place, and admitting to it. I didn't realize how tender Sarek might have been to kid!Spock and the tenseness only coming later. In case you were wondering, that's the way I'm seeing it.

Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Someday soon finals will be over and I'll get myself far enough ahead to be a real posting schedule. Until that point, I hope you enjoy the story anyway. Happy Easter!

* * *

Jim's day had been _perfect_.

He'd woken up to Sarek trying - and failing - to sneak out of the bedroom, pretending like he hadn't fallen asleep protecting them. Then Jim had sat down to a breakfast Amanda replicated just. for. them. (With them meaning Spock's family, _plus_ Chris and Number One.) Then they'd gone to the Museum and Chris had told Jim and Spock every good story behind every good picture they saw.

The day was beautiful. Warm, safe, and happy with almost everyone he loved there with him, and Jim was so excited that he could barely keep still. Takeru trailed them around the museum and almost smiled every time Jim giggled at something, while Number One would pop up out of nowhere with snacks she wasn't supposed to have. Amanda stayed beside her boys, listening to all the stories with them, and though Sarek had to go make nice with the dignitaries, he kept finding his way back to the family spending more time then he should.

Jim and Spock were seated on a bench before a holographic display of the _Kelvin_, bracketed between Amanda and Chris while the Captain told them about George's favorite quirks from the ship. Amanda and Jim would laugh, the clear and clean kind that made everyone else smile with them, and even Spock couldn't help the twitches of an almost-smile.

The day had been great, wonderful, perfect... and then Number One came blitzing back into the room with no snacks in hand.

She grabbed Jim by the back of his shirt and hauled him from the bench and pushed him towards a side exit. She paused just long enough to hiss at Takeru, "The _Romulans_ are here." Pike jumped to his feet in confusion and Number One quickly explained, "Their ambassadorial delegation is here to pay their respects"

Pike collected Jim against him as though if he pulled the boy close enough he could shield him from the intruders. "Do they know about Jim?"

"At the very least the know he is here," Takeru interrupted, "and there is damage enough in that. However, for safety's sake we should assume they know of his status as _svitan-nel-dath_."

Chris stepped to lift Jim into his arms and make a break for it, but Takeru stopped him with a quelling hand to his shoulder. "They will expect you to be present Captain, if you were to leave now they would _know_ that we seek to conceal James from them."

"If I'm here and he's gone they'll suspect anyway."

"Better they should suspect than they should know." Takeru reasoned. Pike grumbled under his breath but let Takeru herd the boys out of the room without complaint.

Takeru waived Amanda to go before him, but she shook her head no. "I'll be with Sarek, and maybe their attempts to bait him with comments about his un-Vulcan marriage will help distract them." Number One stood torn with her gaze bouncing back and forth between Pike's obvious preference that she look after Jim and her own desire to kick Romulan ass. Jim solved the debate for her by silently mouthing, 'Look after Chris.' Pike glared at her when she turned to follow him, but let the matter go without any comment.

The boys wound their way through small back channels of the museum with Takeru, skirting around members of the Romulan delegation who were obviously fanning out through the building in a subtle search pattern. Eventually they wound their way down to the main floor and with an exit in sight, Takeru froze. Spock stared at him in confusion, then cocked his head to the side and fear flashed through his eyes as he heard what Takeru had heard. Spock turned back the way they came and started down the hall with temper in his stride. Jim dashed off after Spock, his own trot matching the pace of Spock's slightly longer legs. Takeru muttered something under his breath that Jim was almost certain was a Vulcan curse word and then came after him.

Under his breath Takeru said, "He will be well, Spock, you need not worry over him."

"I am not _worried_." Spock snapped. "He is my father and it is only logical to assure myself that he does not need your assistance." Jim kept his confusion to himself as they went along, and then he heard it as well. There was a snide, almost shout echoing through the main hall of the museum, and the closer they got the clearer Jim could hear the derision, all directed at Sarek.

The trio paused beside one of the archways that led into the main hall, Jim tilting his head around the doorway to try and watch. There were people standing in clumps all over the hall obviously eavesdropping, and not doing a very good job of pretending that they weren't. The gawkers blocked Jim's view of Sarek and whoever was doing the stage mocking which so loud it was practically a yell. Jim snuck around the corner to get a better look, and though Spock tried to grab his sleeve and hold him back, Jim slipped his grip.

Spock stayed concealed of the other side of the wall, listening to a spree of rather vicious insults concerning his father's parentage, logic, and failings as a representative of the Vulcan race as a whole. Jim popped back around the corner after a minute and asked, "So I'm assuming the pointy eared bastard doing the shouting is a Romulan?"

"Given the facts available to me at the present moment, I presume so."

"Yeah, well, the guy is getting in your dad's space and I think everyone is waiting for Sarek to lose it and deck him."

Spock turned his attention away from the shouting and inquired, "I assume from your context that 'deck' implies some sort of physical altercation, which my father would never do."

"Really? 'Cause some of the stuff your dad is saying back to him is _totally_ meant to piss the guy off."

"The Ambassador is attempting to elicit and emotional response so the Romulan delegation will be distracted by him and provide us with an opportunity to leave unhindered. An opportunity which we are presently squandering."

Jim rolled his eyes and stuck his head back around the corner, taking in what little he could see. "Why isn't Chris stopping him?" Jim muttered.

Spock ignored his inner voice of propriety and tilted his own head around the corner to spy while he replied, "The Federation's relationship with the Romulan Empire is strained at best, any insult Captain Pike may deliver would be damaging both to his career and to the Federation, no matter how much he may desire to deliver one."

The crowd parted before the boys at just the right moment for them to see the Romulan strike the back of his hand across Sarek's cheek in a fit of temper. Takeru's hand darted out and clasped on to the back of Jim's shirt before he could launch himself around the corner like he so obviously longed to. Spock gasped at the unprecedented display of violence against his father.

"Go protect Sarek!" Jim hissed at Takeru.

"My presence is unnecessary, the Ambassador will be well." Though from the strain in Takeru's voice Jim could tell he didn't quite believe that assertion himself.

"I don't care! Get the hell out there are protect him anyway! You're the only grownup in the building who won't lose their job for stepping in!"

"The Ambassador has made his wishes clear on this subject. He desires that I should remain solely in your and Spock's company."

"Don't worry about us, we'll stay here and be good."

"I do not believe you."

"Well I'm not really giving you any options here, Takeru."

"Disregarding the wishes of one whom I have sworn to protect is never an option James. Now come, it is long past time for us to depart."

Jim turned and stared at Spock, baffled beyond all recognition. Spock knew that Jim would leave if Spock walked away, but some part of Jim would always be disappointed in him. Spock trusted Takeru implicitly, and knew beyond a doubt that should Sarek decide to enter into a physical altercation with this Romulan he would win. Their presence was unnecessary here, and worse, _dangerous_. Sarek was enduring these slights to provide them with an opportunity to be safely away and it was illogical to waste his sacrifice.

Spock continued with his internal list of all the logical ways he could explain to Jim why they should heed Takeru and leave the building, not the least of which was Jim's own safety. But then, Spock heard the harsh snap of the Romulan calling his mother a whore, and Spock's reaction was painfully human. Jim caught the tightening in Spock's eyes and the disgruntled grimace (which Jim would probably translate to mean 'oh, _hell_ no') and the boys went around the corner at a dash.

Spock considered it proof of Jim's impact on him that he would undertake such an action without a plan, but apparently Jim had something resembling one, and Spock would've rethought Jim's presence had he known the extent of it. Jim darted up beside one of the Security officers who was watching the exchange and lifted the man's phaser from his holster. Spock noted that Jim at least took a moment to dial down the phaser to stun before he took a shot at the offending Romulan's feet.

The entire hall screeched to a halt as the security officers unholstered their phasers and swung them around to point at Jim, and then lowered them when they realized who had done the shooting. Jim kept the phaser trained on the irate Romulan in front of him, with hands shaking so slightly that Spock was certain he was the only person who saw it. Jim stuck out his chin and looked every inch the half legend he was purported to be and declared, "You don't talk to her that way."

The offendor snarled something obscene in Romulan, but finished in English, "You do not find Sarek worth such ardent protection?"

Jim snorted and fixed the Romulan with a look that screamed, 'you are a complete and total moron', but replied, "The Ambassador could kick your ass from here to the Delta Quadrant, he doesn't need me to do it for him. But Amanda is a Lady, and she shouldn't have to get her hands dirty with the likes of _you_."

"It is good to see that human hyperbole was not mistaken about you. I would have been disappointed." This new voice came from the entryway behind them, and rather than let James be outflanked, Spock nabbed a phaser of his own from a baffled junior officer and aimed it at their interloper.

The Romulan had the gall to laugh at Spock's actions, "So much for Vulcan stoicism."

"It's Vulcan _honor_, not that I'd expect you to know the difference." Jim replied, and judging from the way most of the Fleet hissed out a displeased breath when he said that, Jim assumed he'd stepped over a line. But the Romulan just chortled.

"Do you know who I am, little human?"

Jim made a show of examining him from head to toe, studying his lean form and excessively fancy clothes that denoted a higher rank. "Not a clue, but I'll go with 'pissy Romulan extra' for 300 Alex."

Spock did not understand the reference, but judging from the way Pike bit his lip and Number One failed to stop a laugh, it was meant to be amusing. The Romulan in question merely grinned at Jim and said, "_Fascinating_." Spock tightened his grip on his phaser at the almost hungry look the Romulan had turned on Jim. He caught Spock tensing and smirked, "You disapprove of my attentions _rhede-rhienn_?"

Jim had no knowledge of the Romulan language, let alone phrases designed to insult Spock's hybrid status, but Jim could tell from the look of disgust on Number One's face that it wasn't good. Jim sent another phaser burst to skim the feet of the original bastard Vulcan and muttered, "Oops, finger slipped."

The Vulcan half-skipped out of the way and exclaimed, "Why is this _daetra _being allowed to roam free!"

"He is one of the few people in the galaxy allowed to say such a thing with no reprecussions. Though if he persists in this untoward behavior I may be forced to turn him over my knee." The superior Romulan turned a leer on Jim and the boy took a small step backwards to brush his side against Spock's. Number One clenched her hand in an iron grip around Pike's elbow, forcing him to freeze a breath before he burst forward and throttled the Romulan looking at his godson like he was about to pay for him in a seedy bar.

The angry bastard muttered something else in Romulan and Spock nudged Jim and whispered, "He wants your name."

Jim squared his shoulders and put on the cocky grin that always made Frank lose his temper and declared, "I'm James Tiberius Kirk."

Based off the slight bulge to his eyes, that wasn't something he was expecting. However, the second Romulan seemed fully aware and explained simply, "The _svitan-nel-dath__._"

Jim could hear the whispers ranging about the room, with people running searches on their comms trying to figure what that meant. "In truth we should have expected it," the eerie Vulcan commented. "A babe born two months early in the middle of a firefight beside an artificial black hole. That you didn't die in your mother's womb or be sucked into the vacuum of space could only be through the interference of the fates."

"I lived because my father is a hero. _Fate_," Jim spat out the word, "had nothing to do with it."

The Romulan took long, slow steps towards the boys, everyone else in the room tensing at his approach while the demands of diplomacy fought their instincts to rip the boys away. "Tell me Ambassador," he commented to Sarek, though he kept his eyes on Jim, "since you have denied my people access to the ancient texts, tell me what happens to the rest of us should he die?"

"_Sekhet dungau-katau ni'rchong le-sumaong_." (Sekhet [the goddess of war who was cooled by Surak]

Spock leaned slightly and whispered to Jim, "The goddess of war and illogic shall come bearing fire and ice."

"_Yeht_? _Yi'ra bulk tor kuv nash-tor_?

When the Romulan plucked a small phaser from the back of his pants and fired it at Jim, Spock understood why he had switched the conversation over to Vulcan. The Romulan had meant to provide the human security with no knowledge of his intent. Had Spock not been there to understand that the Romulan asked, 'Really? Then what would destiny do if I did this?', and intercede accordingly, then the blast might have caught Jim full on in his tiny chest.

But instead, Spock twisted and threw his weight against Jim, forcing him to the ground and away from the heat of the phaser blast that skimmed above Spock's back.

By the time Jim and Spock popped back to their feet the resulting fight was already over. Sarek had moved with speed that Spock had thought was beyond a member of the High Council. Sarek stood unruffled while the insulting Romulan lay in a humiliating blob on the floor at his feet. Based off the wide-eyed stares that Federation security directed at Sarek, Spock assumed that his father had dispatched the Romulan with a well placed neck pinch. Captain Pike had been much more dramatic in his actions and it seemed that he had ripped a phaser from a baffled security officer and sent a blunt shot to the first Romulan's head. Surprising to Spock though, was that Number One had pulled a phaser of her own - from some part of her dress uniform that Spock did not particularly wish to think about - and had Amanda ensconced safely behind her while she kept away any other Romulans in the room.

Sarek flicked a piece of invisible lint off his shoulder and asked, "Captain Pike, may I impose upon your men to see the Ambassador and his compatriot back to the Romulan Embassy?"

"I'll do you one better Amabassador, Number One and I will see to it everyone from the delegation is tucked safety away at the Embassy for the night."

Sarek nodded his head, "That would be appreciated."

Sarek started to the door, Amanda quickly falling in beside him while Spock and Jim scrambled along behind. Takeru paused with Chris for the briefest of moments to whisper, "You will find the delegation members placed beside each emergency exit unconscious. I presume that your Number One will prevent this from being a difficulty."

While Takeru was informing Pike, Jim was whispering to Spock, "Well that guy was just _creepy_."

"Indeed. And Jim, I propose that next time we react in such an unplanned manner we do something less fraught then pull phasers on the Romulan Ambassador."

"Yeah," Jim sighed, "I'm cool with that."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** I know, I know it's been way too long since I last posted, but I have two _very_ good reasons. 1) Graduate school finals, and 2) My sister is on bed rest with triplets, leaving her other two children in my care. No, they're not _great_ reasons, because for some people this is life, but that's the best I've got. However, be happy, because I give you my word that the next chapter will be up on Friday.

Thanks for reading!

**ETA:** stupid catching stupid spelling mistakes when I'm posting to someplace after this...

* * *

If Spock had not been positive that it was impossible, he would have thought that Sarek was upset. He was permitting Captain Pike ramble about all the ways they could keep the Romulan Ambassador from gaining access to Jim, and didn't say anything when Number One suggested that she be allowed to terminate the Ambassador through violent means. Not even Takeru seemed immune to their human influence when he offered suggestions about where they could dispose of the remains without alerting the authorities. Spock was concerned by this thoroughly un-Vulcan turn of events, but Jim watched with glee as the conversation bounced back and forth. It was finally Amanda who interrupted their planning with a gentle reminder that none of them bore custody of James, and thus, were unable to make such long range plans for his care.

Captain Pike thunked down in his chair in what Spock took be an entirely James-like maneuver and groaned, "Well then, we're screwed. 'Cause it'll be a cold day in hell before Winona lets me make decisions about her son."

Jim giggled, and Pike winced, as though he'd just remembered that Jim was tucked into the overly crowed hovercar with the rest of them. "Sorry, kid."

"It's cool. She doesn't have very nice things to day about you either."

Pike snorted, then replied, "So what do we do about the lack of custody? Think we should blow right past the Federation hierarchy and take care of it all ourselves?"

"I believe that option has been removed from us," Takeru interrupted. He looked up from the handheld comm that never left his side and continued, "I have just been informed that Admiral Moran is at the Embassy waiting for the return of James. Apparently she is being rather vehement in her displeasure with what she sees as Vulcan interference in a Human affair."

Number One swore under her breath and Pike snapped, "It's a _Federation_ affair!"

"I will never understand how Moran made it to Admiral with her level of Xenophobia." Amanda said.

"She was appointed right after the _Kelvin_ and people were making a fuss about how we didn't have enough female Admirals. She'd made a name for herself as good in a fight, and at the time that was all anyone was looking for."

"You are a most troubling species." Spock said.

"Humans like to feel safe from the outside influences," Amanda interjected. "Often this feeling comes from trust that their leaders are capable of protecting them."

"It is a trait our people share Spock, and is the root of why we are such isolationists. It is one of the prices a society pays for becoming civilized." Sarek commented.

"So she's the thorn in our collective side." Spock quirked an eyebrow and Jim could see his imminently clever brain trying to decipher his meaning. Jim flashed a half smile and said, "The bee in our bonnet. The glitch in our subroutine."

Spock finally caved and furrowed his brow and said, in what anyone else would've taken for a whine, "I do not understand."

Jim grinned back, "I know. That's why I do it."

"I fail to understand what you seek to achieve by this."

"Achieve is too strong a word for it. I just like seeing you get frustrated."

"Vulcans do not get _frustrated_." Spock replied coolly.

Jim snorted, "Sure they don't Spock."

The corner of Takeru's mouth gave the tiniest twitch upward, which was the only sign any Vulcan in the room gave that they found Jim teasing Spock acceptable. Amanda, however, was watching the byplay with a gentle grin. She put a stilling hand on Spock's arm when he leaned forward to snap something about Jim being illogical and interrupted, "Shall we sneak James in through the back door, or are we just going to ignore her because she lacks an legal authority to claim him?"

"That's easy. I just won't go with her."

Amanda ran what was supposed to be a soothing hand through his hair and replied, "I'm afraid it's not that simple, James."

"Sure it is. Starfleet regulation 4417 Section 14(b) says that the guardian of a Federation citizen who's a minor cannot bestow guardianship rights until the prior guardian informs the minor of the bestowal in person. Then they've got a whole list of extenuating circumstances, but none of those apply here. I mean, Winona isn't dead or missing or anything. If anyone has the right to claim custody to me, it would be Chris. He's at least my godfather and you could make the case that his guardianship is implied. No matter what permission Winona gave Admiral Moran, it doesn't go into effect unless Winona tells me in person."

"Do I want to know how you know that?" Pike asked.

Jim fidgeted in his seat, trying not to look guilty, "Frank and I had some disagreements about whether or not he gets to stop me from... going on field trips."

"Lets just skirt right past the part where I'm sure 'field trip' is a euphamism for something that I don't wanna know about 'cause it'll keep me up at night and lets move on to whether or not we'll be able to pull that off without getting court marshalled."

Sarek spared Pike a look that screamed 'haven't you been paying any attention?' and flicked his eyes over to Takeru, who looked up from his comm and announced, "_To-gav_ Vinak is on his way to the room where Admiral Moran is waiting. He has agreed to handle the preliminary matters so that when we arrive she will have nothing more to do than receive confirmation from James that this is his choice. Vinak informs me that should she dissent Captain Pike does hold the authority to assume custody of James, but such an action would be antithetical to her presumed goals and thus, illogical."

Number One smirked, "You spend more time texting on that thing than a first year cadet."

Whatever Takeru said in reply, Jim was too busy turning to Spock to notice. He shot Spock a look that ever so eloquently shouted, 'Huh?' and under his breath Spock explained, "_To-gav_ Vinak is a master of Vulcan law. Both ancient and modern."

"So... he's a lawyer."

Spock actually flinched in distaste at Jim's translation and replied shortly, "No. A _To-gav_ is unique to the legal field and is versed in almost every tenant of law throughout the Federation. Vinak himself is widely sought for his ability to find legal commonalities netween disputing species."

"And Takeru called _him _to help me make Moran go away?"

"Help _us_, but yes."

"This isn't another one of those _svitan-nel-dath_ things, is it? 'Cause getting peolpe to do stuff they don't want to do is something only bad guys are supposed to do and it's tripping me out."

"Your status does not compel anyone to act in a manner contrary to their will. It is merely a matter of..." Spock paused long enough for his eyebrow to tick in the way Jim secretly refered to as the 'Smug Bastard' look, and continued, "having the stars align."

Jim burst out in a string of giggles and said, "You got it right!" The adults then ushered them out of the hovercar, obviously too involved in their conversation to pay attention to Jim and Spock's teasing.

When they stepped inside the Embassy Jim realized he was beginning to notice a pattern to Sarek's behavior when the Vulcan grew impatient with other people's stupidity. (Not that Jim thought he'd _ever_ be ballsy enough to call Sarek impatient to his face.) But, when people grew too illogical Sarek would pull out his 'intractable Vulcan' expression, the kind that Jim remembered from the holos he'd seen of Vulcans in school. Sarek looked like he'd never even _thought_ about anything so pathetically useless as emotion, and then he swept into a room like you should count yourself blessed that he'd descended low enough to pay any attention to you.

It was intense. And intimidating.

And Admiral Moran didn't seem to realize that.

The Admiral was short and dumpy, with an upturned nose that vaguely reminded Jim of a pig. Looking at her Jim figured that she _had _to have a temper, otherwise no one would listen to her. Though when Jim entered and she threw open her arms and cried, "Jimmy" like she was summoning him for a hug, Jim figured she was probably pretty sneaky too. She stepped towards him with the obvious intent to bundle Jim up in her arms, and Jim no-so-subtly stepped behind Sarek, who managed to look thunderous despite not having any expression at all.

"Oh Jimmy," she gushed, "Don't you remember me?"

Jim poked his head around Sarek's side (the only part of himself that he was willing to expose to her, and replied, "No ma'am, I don't. And I'm not sure why you think I should."

Moran tutted at him, "I'm friends with your mother, Jimmy, and I've been to your house on several occasions. I'm disappointed you don't remember."

Jim stiffled the urge to ask, 'Are you _scolding_ me, lady?' and said instead, "My apologies, ma'am."

Her face instantly morphed from stern and shaming to a half grin that didn't suit her at all. "Don't worry about it, Jimmy. I forgive you." Jim flicked a look over to Spock and did his best to not smirk in the way that meant, 'This lady is ca_-ra-_zy.' Moran didn't quite catch the meaning, but she caught Jim's expression and dropped any semblance of her friendly demeanor. "Come along, dear."

She held out her hand to him and with pleading eyes Jim looked over at the Vulcan he didn't know, and thus assumed was Vinak. "Admiral Moran, this is a matter I have already explained to you. According to Starfleet Regulation 4417 Section 14(b)-"

"Yes!" Moran tossed up a hand to silence him, "I understand! But his mother gave me the authority to take him into my care until she arrives."

"Arrives?" Jim popped all the way out from behind Sarek, "Mom's coming?"

Moran turned back to Jim with a look of triumph, "Yes dear, she caught a transport and she'll be here tomorrow morning. She doesn't want to impose on these people any longer."

Jim might have been polite about the whole thing if Moran hadn't had the barest pause before she said 'people'. He was trying to be good and logical, he really, really, _really_ was, and then Moran had to go and do something like that and make Jim lose his cool. "_I'm _not the one imposing."

Moran settled into a stone cold expression that Jim figured must have been what opposing ships saw right before she blew them out of the sky. "James. Your mother doesn't want you in their custody, she wants you in mine. Now _come_."

"Why?"

"Because your mother insists."

"But that's the thing, I don't _know_ that's what my mom wants, that's just what you say."

"James!" She snapped.

"No really, I don't mean to be rude, but I can't just take your word on that. It would be breaking the law, and worse, it would be stupid. Without Mom standing right here in front of me saying that she wants me to go with you, it's not safe to trust you."

"And these people that picked you up on the street, they're safer to be with?"

"Yes ma'am. One's my godfather, and the others have looked out for me when they didn't have to. I _know_ I can trust them. They've proven it." Jim caught the glint in her eyes that would've meant using her authority to press Chris to take Jim and leave with her, but Jim stepped in. "In this situation I'm the one who makes decisions about my custody, Mom had the papers drawn up to make sure and everything. Even Chris couldn't make me leave against my will without it being kidnapping."

The corner of Moran's left eye started to twitch and Jim figured someone in her command ought to tell her that she had a tell for when she'd lost and she knew it. Jim didn't think that person should be him though. He just smiled angelically and nodded along when Moran hissed, "Your mother will be here _first thing_ tomorrow morning."

"And I'll be here... waiting for her."

Moran blew past them all and out the door, not bothering to stop and pay her respects to the Vulcan Ambassador standing right in front of her. As usual, Pike snorted and Number One muttered something crass while Jim turned to Vinak and apologized, "Sorry that Takeru dragged you downstairs over this."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Mr. Kirk. It has been several decades since I have been involved in a custody matter. One must use one's skills lest they atrophie."

Jim grinned at him in gratitude, "Necessary for preserving your skills or not, I'm glad you were here."

The boys said their goodnights and dashed up the stairs. Well, Jim dashed and Spock trailed behind at a much more sedate and respectable pace, but Chris liked to think that some part of Spock wanted to dash like Jim did. Pike was half tempted to follow them, just to be there when Jim finally took control of their night and decided to introduce Spock to how a human sleepover was supposed to go. The first lesson Number One had taught Chris in hot-wiring a replicator was how to make your favorite snack (which for Chris was a scotch neat with a twist), and considering the time Number One had spent whispering with Jim this morning, Chris was pretty sure it was a talent that Jim now shared. Considering Jim's aplomb with hot-wiring, Chris was pretty sure that when Amanda went to wake the boys up in the morning she was going to find candy and popcorn scattered around the room along with some vid Jim wasn't supposed to be able to download on the Vulcan's secure server. It would be one last perfect night before reality stepped back in and separated the boys. Which was a moment Chris was trying really hard not to think about.

Chris flopped down on one of the formal couches in the Vulcan sitting room, studiously ignoring how Sarek quirked an eyebrow in the exact same tone that Chris imagined he would say 'heathen'. Sarek and Amanda sat across from him while Number One paced and Takeru kept his attention on his comm. Pike ran his hands through his hair, ruffling it up in tufts. "So, other than abducting Jim and running off to a planet where they'd let me keep him, what are my options?"

"I've been told that Betazed has a particular fondness for adoptions, and given how dramatic this one would be, I imagine they'd welcome you with open arms."

"However, given the vibrant nature of Jim's mind you run the risk of seeing him married off to the most powerful telepath they can find."

"But Jim doesn't have any mental gifts."

"James has so striking a mind that I doubt you will find many people who care about the humanness of his genetics." Sarek explained.

"So we'll put kidnapping and a Federation manhunt on the back burner for now." Pike stated, more than a little awkward. "What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

Amanda smiled, "I thought they were supposed to prepare you Starfleet captains for anything?"

"Oddly enough, one of the few things they don't go over in basic training is how you're supposed to be a parental figure. I assume it's something you pick up if you turn into one of the softer captains, but I'm not quite there yet."

Amanda laughed, but Pike got distracted watching the eyebrow war going on between Takeru and Number One from their opposite sides of the room. "Something you'd like to share with the class?"

Takeru raised his eyebrow so high that Chris was concerned it was going to carve right off his forehead, and Number One ceded the battle with a grumble. "Security at the Riverside shipyards has been upgraded."

"Upgraded? Upgraded how?"

"It's no longer a dumping ground for Fleet Security that's too stupid to be useful but not bad enough to get discharged."

Chris waited for a moment, knowing that wasn't all, then prodded, "And...?"

"And they've all been briefed on the Jim Kirk situation."

"Meaning that until he enters the Fleet his every move will be tailed by Federation Security." Pike sighed.

Number One shrugged like she wasn't embarrassed by this at all. "There are worse things."

"Indeed." Takeru interrupted. "Which is why I have taken the liberty to transfer Jim's records from the... _school_ he was attending to an academy whose educational methods are preferable to those that have previously been inflicted upon him."

Chris snorted at Takeru's blithe dismissal of human educators and the Sarek explained, "Spock has expressed concerns about the status of James' education, particularly concerning the lack of accurate information conveyed concerning non-human species. The academy Takeru has chosen is staffed by doctors in their relative fields as well as several non-human professors. According to reviews, the institute will see James fully trained in all the standard elements of Federation education, as well as several languages, negotiations, inter-species relations, and tactics."

"I assume we're going the 'better to ask forgiveness than permission' route and hope Winona doesn't notice you're sending Jim to a whole different school?"

"I have discovered that more often than not that is the most logical approach to dealing with species governed by their emotions."

#######

"Ya know Spock, you're not supposed to poke at it, you're supposed to eat it."

"They are maize kernals superheated with pressurized steam until their hulls rupture, then saturated in a mixture of a gelantanized maize starch, a sucrose/molasses blend, and churned, fermented, cream. Presumably from an earth equine. It must be examined before it can be consumed."

"Spock. It's carmel corn. And you can say butter. It's _okay_. I won't report you to the logic police."

Spock looked up from his thorough examination of the bowl of carmel corn that Jim had placed in front of him and replied, "There is no such organization."

"You know, you say stuff like that and I'm not sure if you're messing with me or not."

"Why would I... 'mess' with you?" Spock said with a furrow.

"Never mind. Just man up and eat the popcorn."

"Given that I am not human I cannot-"

"Spock!" Jim interrupted. "Stop trying to distract me and just try the stupid popcorn!"

"It the substance is stupid then why would you want me to consume it?"

For all their ranting about logic being the true path, Jim was pretty sure Vulcans just used logic as an out for when they didn't want to do something. So instead of letting Spock get away with it, Jim pounced. He caught Spock in perfect tackling position and slammed him to the ground. Spock squeaked in surprise and Jim was so shocked at the wholly un-Vulcan noise that Spock easily pushed him off. Jim leapt back at him and Spock quickly used Jim's own momentum to spin him and trap the human with his superior Vulcan strength. "I am sorry, Jim! I did not mean to anger you."

Jim froze mid-thrash and stared at Spock in confusion. "Spock, we're wrestling. It's _play_."

"But... you used violence against me."

Jim pushed up with the tiniest amount of force and Spock all but jumped off. "It's a tussle, Spock. That's not the bad kind of violence."

"I do not understand. Humans have a good kind of violence?" Jim just heaved a sigh and stared at Spock as though he couldn't decide whether or not he could say what he wanted to. "You are troubled."

"I'm not, it's just..." Jim raked his fingers through his hair and sighed out, "We're different."

"Different from one another, or different from those who are not the two of us?"

"Both."

"I presume you intended to carry one meaning over the other, however."

"It's just, I'm always gonna be human, and you're always gonna be Vulcan, and stuff like this is gonna keep happening."

"You mean instances akin to where you initiate a tussle and I will interpret it as violence." Spock paused for a moment, "Or do you mean other instances where I wish to conduct a logical study of an unknown substance prior to exposing myself to the possible effects on my physiology, and you interpret it as fear of the unknown."

Jim very slowly to look at Spock, who just stared steadily back at him with a raised eyebrow. Jim snorted, "Are you always gonna be able to talk me down when I'm being an irrational human?"

"I plan to."


	13. Chapter 13

**ETA:** For some reason isn't letting me reply to your lovely reviews, so I've PM-ed those it will let me. For those of you have PMs blocked, know that I adore you anyway for leaving your reviews! Thank you!

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Number One had excused herself from the Embassy early that morning with the excuse that one of them should be checking on the _Enterprise_, but in truth she didn't trust herself not to do something violent to Winona. Christopher had declared that he would very much like to run off with Number One and do one of those violent things with her, but Amanda reminded him that he would only have the morning to say goodbye to Jim. So instead, Pike had woken at the embassy with the rest of them and thunked down on a chair as far away from the sitting room door as he could get and lamented that Vulcan replicators couldn't produce liquor to go in his morning coffee.

With Chris present, Admiral Moran glowering at everyone for not cowering before her and with Sarek being, well... Vulcan, Amanda knew that the responsibility to make nice would fall to her shoulders. Amanda rose to meet Winona at the door, and the woman standing before her was nothing like Amanda had expected.

Winona Kirk was beautiful, which Amanda supposed she ought to have anticipated. People liked to say that Jim Kirk looked every inch his father's son, but without the taint of sentimentalism you could see Winona there instead. She had a warm smile and bright eyes, with the sort of barely restrained glee that Jim always showed at doing something new. She all but bounced into the Embassy, ignoring the glare that Admiral Moran sent her way for not wrinkling her nose in disgust at being forced to be around aliens. The woman was lively and open in a way that Christopher's story had not prepared Amanda for.

"Mrs. Kirk, it is a pleasure to meet you."

Winona stuck out her hand for a traditional human handshake and said, "Call me Winona."

"Then you must call me Amanda. My apologies that James is not here to greet you. He and Spock had a sugar overdose last night and slept through their alarm this morning. They should be down momentarily."

Winona laughed, "Let me guess, caarmel corn?"

"Is that his favorite?"

"For right now. He goes through phases. Last month he couldn't get enough of those candy bars with the hazelnut filling, and the month before that it was macaroni and cheese. Not even the good kind, the kind you get from a box."

Amanda stared at her for a moment and then giggled, quite against her own will. Winona had Jim's easy demeanor, and though Amanda had decided to be nothing more than polite, she couldn't quite stop herself from softening to Winona.

Jim stepped into the room and his eyes lit up as he bound over to Winona, but there was still a slight furrow to his brow that said he was torn over something. It was as though Jim didn't know whether to happy to see his mother or worried about being taken away from Spock. Winona abandoned all traces of dignity at the sight of her son and dashed over to Jim to toss her arms around him. Winona seemed designed to defy Amanda's expectations, because rather then ask if Jim was alright, Winona murmured to Jim how much she'd missed him.

"I missed you too, Mom."

Winona pulled back to grin and Jim and said, "They tell me you snuck out of Riverside and made it all the way to Headquarters before anyone caught on."

Jim flashed her his Cheshire cat grin and simply replied, "Yup."

"Awesome." Admiral Moran blanched at Winona's response, but held her tongue.

"Did you sneak in through a hole in their security?"

"Nah, way too much work. I just walked around like I was supposed to be there."

"Always the best bet."

"Indeed."

Winona looked shocked at Jim's word choice for a moment but moved on. "What happened when you made it here? They were a little fuzzy on those details."

Jim smirked at her, knowing full well that 'fuzzy' meant Moran had gone on a xenophobic rant about trusting a human child to Vulcans. "I made it to the museum and ran into Spock. I've been hanging out with him, Sarek, and Amanda ever since."

Winona looked around the room and finally took in the sight of a firm Sarek with Spock standing behind and to his right. "Really?"

"Yup."

"The weirdest stuff happens to you, kid."

"Good weird though."

"Oh yeah, definitely good weird."

Jim pulled Winona to her feet and tugged her over to Spock. "Winona Kirk, this is Spock. He's my best friend."

If Winona was surprised at the sudden attachment, she didn't let on. She held her hand up in a traditional Vulcan hello, proving that a Starfleet education was worth something. "Pleasure to meet you, Spock."

"And you as well, Lieutenant Kirk."

"Oh no, none of this Lieutenant business Spock, I'm Winona."

Spock flushed slightly at Winona's direct attention, and nodded in agreement. Winona gave him the bright grin that Spock had grown so accustomed to seeing on Jim's face when he was being devious. Spock cocked his head to the side and stared at her, cataloguing the lines of her face, separating them out into what Winona passed on to Jim and what the infamous Captain Kirk had passed on to him.

Winona just smirked, as though she'd been subjected to this scrutiny many times before. She turned her attention back to Jim and asked, "Do you have everything you need Jimmy? I don't wanna rush you, and we've still got a few minutes, but we've got to catch a transport back to Riverside."

Jim's face fell and Winona snickered at him. "Don't look like I just grounded you, Jimmy. You'll be able to come back, and you can even go to Vulcan to visit if they're alright with that, we just have to back in Riverside this afternoon." Jim grumbled, but nodded his understanding.

"I left my pack upstairs. I just need to get that, then say my goodbyes."

"Excellent, babe." She gave him a kiss to his forehead then smiled as Jim slipped out of the room with Spock beside him.

There were a few moments of awkward silence before Amanda said, "James has been a delight."

"I'm glad. Jim has it in him to be a handful when he wants to be. But that's usually part of his fun."

"Certainly. He is a very lively young man, especially when compared to most of the vulcan youths I have come to know."

Moran snorted like she wanted to say something wretched about Vulcan stoicism, but Winona fixed her with a glower and the Admiral refrained. "Jim has it in him to be livelier than most anyone, humans included. He gets that from George."

At that Winona flicked her gaze over to Pike and met him stare for stare, the first acknowledgment she'd given that the man was there with them in the room. She glared at him as though daring him to contradict her assessment, and Pike merely nodded in agreement. "It's one of the many things Jim got from George." The snub was subtle but there all the same, and every politician in the room caught it but chose to ignore it instead.

"Captain Pike, I've been told that you took Jim under you wing over these last few days and helped look after him. Thank you for that."

Pike tipped his head, "It was my pleasure. Jim's a good kid, and he's my godson after all. I figure it's time I start getting a little more involved in his life."

"Are you sure you can make that sort of commitment? You're offworld so much, and I know how important your career is to you. Jim would be brokenhearted if you promised to be there for him then chose the Fleet instead."

The air snapped between the two of them, tense with the half veiled insults that everyone knew were born out of a fight had again and again throughout the last decade. Amanda stepped in before either party could continue to snap at the other, pulling everyone in to a stilted but still polite conversation about a plan for Jim to come visit Spock on Vulcan. As the men had wished, she avoided talking about the changes they'd already made to Jim's schooling and his protection, but in the back of her mind Amanda still silently puzzled about Winona's reaction to Christopher. There was no pride there, no smugness in besting him and taking what he had and she wanted. In truth, they both sounded like they each believed they were in the right and motivated only by love of George and Jim. It was something Amanda would need to study later.

#######

The moment they were clear of the room filled with their parents Jim started to itch a spot high on his ribcage, just beside his heart.

"Cease scratching," Spock hissed, "If you remain so persistent someone will ask questions."

"Hey, I didn't scratch in front of anybody else, the stupid thing just itches!"

"I am aware Jim, that is one of the perils of injecting a subspace transmitter."

"Could you have put it someplace that _doesn't_ itch like crazy?"

Spock grasped Jim's hand and pulled it away from the injection site and said, "No. I chose the locale because it is not a place the casual observer would check for the incision mark. The only way to avoid the initial discomfort is to implant the transmitter surgically."

Jim stared at him then muttered, "Yeah, lets not do that."

Spock just cocked his eyebrow in the way that said Jim was strange for thinking Spock would even suggest it. "I still don't understand why you think I need it though. I'm just going back to Riverside."

Spock looked at him like he was an idiot and replied, "You have become an object of fascination to D'Lhaes i-Aihal Aenikh, the only full blood sibling to the Praetor of the Romulan Senate and one of the lovers of the Empress of the Romulan Empire. He is a foul and loathsome creature with tastes for flesh that even Orions deride as unnatural. But because of his connections and the way his utter lack of morality benefits the Empire, he is forgiven for whatever crimes he may purpertrate and allowed to roam free as their Ambassador. Logic would suggest that he will come for you again. Your status as a child of one of the most infamously defiant officers against The Empire would alone be enough to secure his ire, but my family's affection for you along with your defiant response to him will only make you more appetizing."

Jim blanched, "Appetizing like _literally _appetizing, or like..."

"Metaphorical."

Jim tilted his head to the side and tried to puzzle out what that meant and Spock refused to speak further on then subject then to merely raise an eyebrow. "_Oh_, you mean like... well now I wish it was literal."

"Indeed."

"So, we leave this highly illegal subspace transmitter in my ribs and you'll be able to find me wherever I go."

Spock flushed slightly at Jim's mention of the illegality of implanting the unregistered transmitter that they had pilfered from the Embassy's science labs last night, but still corrected, "Provided that you are still in the Alpha quadrant we will be able to determine your locale with a high degree of accuracy. The closer we get to the signal the more specific your location will become."

"But if they realize I've got one, won't they be able to shut it off?"

"Traditionally transmitters could be overloaded with subsonic waves of a high enough frequency. However, the version I implanted in you operates on a randomly varying wave spectrum, rather than a singular spectrum like its predecessors. Should the Romulans discover the presence of your transmitter I am confident that we will be able to retrieve you before they successfully still the signal.

"And if they decide to just cut it out of me?"

"We will still have a last known location with which to operate, which is more then we would have otherwise."

"But this whole thing depends on someone noticing that I'm missing, right?"

Spock gave him that long-suffering look that Jim was getting so accustomed to and replied, "You will be monitored by Starfleet officers the moment you leave this building. Should you ever been taken from their care, we will know and will retrieve you."

"I don't need them babysitting me, Spock." Jim huffed.

"Consider this the lesser of your possible evils, Jim. My suggestion was to have Takeru relocate to Earth and never depart from your company."

"Spock!" Jim flushed, torn between embarassment at the fuss and being touched that Spock was worried.

"James." Spock replied, and that's how Jim knew they had shifted from teasing and into a serious. "I have not been without a member of the Vulcan security forces since I was first permitted to leave my house. This is something you must come to accept."

Jim gave a halfhearted grumble while he slung his pack over his shoulder, knowing that Spock was right, but wholly unwilling to admit it. "I guess I can be fine with it, if it makes you feel better."

Spock fixed Jim with a glare and replied, "There is no need to be insulting."

Jim snickered, but as he moved to the door that would take him downstairs to his mother and away from Spock, the laughter faded. Jim kept his stare on the door so he wouldn't betray too much emotion and muttered, "I don't wanna go."

"I also have no desire to see you depart. But you must return to your educational institution and I must return to Vulcan."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I can't think it sucks."

"I concur with your disapproval, but it is still required of us. However, if we maintain an exemplary standard of behavior then we will be permitted to see one another often."

Jim finally shifted his gaze away from the door and turned to Spock with wide, guileless eyes. "Promise? 'Cause sometimes people say they're gonna come back, and they'll be there, but then they don't."

As always, Spock cut straight through Jim's human vagueness and went to the real issue. "You fear that Captain Pike and I will no longer display a concern for your well-being after we depart."

Jim rolled his eyes as some part of Jim wished that Spock wouldn't say it in such harsh terms. "Yeah well, you know. Out of sight, out of mind."

"Will you forget me, James, merely because I am out of your sightline?"

Jim huffed, "When you put it that way it sounds stupid." Spock just raised an eyebrow, replying that it clearly was stupid, he just wasn't going to demean himself by saying it. "Yeah, yeah, it's emotional, and illogical, so of course it's stupid, but it's a legitimate concern of mine."

Spock slipped his fingers through Jim's, merely ghosting his touch along Jim's palm until he turned to focus on Spock. "As you have so often pointed out, I am Vulcan. Whatever failures you have encountered among humans, they will not be mine. It is illogical to neglect your best friend."

Jim kept his fingers twined through Spock's but wrapped his free arm around Spock, pulling the other boy close and holding him tight. They stayed that way for a few moments, until the soft snick of the door sliding open interrupted them. "I'm sorry boys, but Admiral Moran insists that if Amanda and Jim are to catch their shuttle they need to leave."

Jim sighed and pulled back, looking over to see Amanda and Chris standing in the doorway. "I thought that I'd say my goodbye up here, if that's alright?"

"I left you and Mom alone for ten minutes and you started fighting?"

Pike actually flushed at the truth of that statement and said, "I prefer 'snarking' over 'fighting'."

"Uh huh. You're gonna get over that at some point so I can have you both, aren't you?"

Pike stepped over and wrapped his arms around Jim, and looking down at the little replica of his best friend he murmured, "I promise."

"Good." Jim squeezed Pike and buried his head in Pike's chest, "Cause I really don't wanna have to give you up."

"Nothing could ever make me, Jim. I promise."

PIke released Jim with one last squeeze and let the boy shift over to Amanda who wrapped him up in a hug of her own. She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "You will always have a place with us, James. No matter where life takes you." Jim burrowed his head in the hollow of her throat and murmured his thanks.

Amanda took Jim's hand and gently led him down the stairs, with Spock trailing quietly behind and Chris keeping to himself upstairs. He couldn't quite bring himself to bear watching Jim walk away with Winona.

At the front door Sarek and Admiral Moran were staring at one another while Winona made uncomfortable commentary about how lovely the entryway was. Winona lit up at the sight of Jim and gave him a grateful look for turning up and saving her from the awkward conversation. Jim gave Sarek a little half bow then lifted his hand in the Vulcan salute. Sarek provided his own in return and bade Jim "Live long and prosper."

Winona gave Amanda a smile of thanks and took Jim's hand for her own, leading him down the stairs while Admiral Moran ushered them along faster. Jim turned to look behind him and saw Spock standing at the doorway trying to look stoic and unmoved. But Jim knew that frown, knew that it meant he was frustrated and sad, and that he was conspiring some way to see Jim much sooner than anyone had planned. They were connected at Jim's rib after all, and if anyone could find a way, it would be Spock.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** Once again isn't letting me send out review replies in the normal manner, so you all got pm-ed. Hope you didn't mind. Thank you ever so much for reading and reviewing!

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Contrary to how he had spent the last few days, Spock was typically a very well-behaved little Vulcan. He had made the decision to strive to attain the logical perfection known only to the followers of Surak and was better at controlling his emotions than the other children of pure Vulcan stock. Spock had learned long ago that he would be held to an almost impossible standard by other Vulcans, and he had done his best to not be found wanting in their eyes. Most Vulcans sought any excuse they could find to consider Spock a failed experiment and prove the superiority of Vulcan purity. Amanda had been uncomfortable with the pressure applied to her for being the first human to marry into a Vulcan family, but at least there had been other Vulcan inter-species marriages before her own. Spock was the first hybrid child and the eldest of those to come by three years. The Vulcan High Council had forbidden further 'experimentation' until they were sure that Spock would suffer no unforeseen ill effects from his genetic. Save the rare occasion when Spock was pushed too far by emotional insults to his mother, he had borne it all with grace and logic to be envied.

Which is why this moment left his parents so baffled.

Sweet Spock who was usually so patient, burst into his parent's private sitting room at a run, completely ignoring all established bounds of propriety. Amanda didn't even get the chance to ask Spock what was wrong before he all but leapt to Sarek and shouted, "We have to go after Jim!"

Sarek automatically reached out with his mental presence to calm Spock, and in a fit of strength and pique that Amanda hadn't thought him capable of, Spock threw off Sarek's touch. "Father! James has been abducted!"

Considering that Spock had never told a falsehood in his life, Sarek didn't delay to verify Spock's claim. He tapped his omnipresent comm and ordered Takeru to locate James immediately. He then snapped shut the comm and focused on Spock, silently bidding him to explain from where he'd gathered his information. "I felt him call to me." Spock was too concered about Jim to flush at the admission, which he almost certainly would've done if he'd stopped to think of the illogic and impossibility of his statement. But Amanda noticed that Sarek didn't look like he thought it was impossible.

Her stoic husband actually crinkled his brow at Spock's announcement, and for the barest of moments he looked concerned. He smoothed out his expression, but not before both Spock and Amanda caught the change. Spock was too polite to call his father on the display, but Amanda had no such compunction. "What? What's wrong?"

He skirted around the question, "Spock is telepathically gifted."

"So help me Sarek. I birthed him, I know full well what his gifts are. What. is. going. on."

"Spock is telepathically gifted to such a degree that he with proper training he could grow to read minds without the necessity of a meld. He holds immense raw power on his own, but blended with the pull of James as _svitan-nel-dath_, and that James has made clear that he wishes to retain the companionship of Spock..."

it was rare that Sarek looked uncomfortable, and by 'rare' Amanda meant never ever. Sarek was an Ambassador, the face of Vulcan, and as such maintained strict control over his emotions at almost all times. He was so stoic that Amanda was fairly certain he'd made members of lesser houses actually cry after confrontations with him, which was probably the reason she'd never been heckled to the point where she had to leave the planet. Which is why Amanda was so shocked to see Sarek uncomfortable to the point where he couldn't complete his thought. The part of Amanda that would alwyas and forever be her father's child was tempted to giggle, but she gave Sarek a pass. "I suppose this is something we can discuss later."

"That would be agreeable."

Spock was so tense he nearly vibrated off his feet, and Amanda took pity on him and routed the conversation back to Jim. "What happened?"

"He called to me."

Amanda stretched out her hands and ushered Spock closer to her. "How?"

"While I was meditating when I sensed an echo of Jim. I followed that echo and found Jim's mind. He was... _terrified_. Then suddenly silenced. A twisted, gnawing fear at what was going to happen to him. That the Romulan might... touch him."

Amanda tensed, "You told him what D'Lhaes is known for?"

Spock stiffly replied, "He was not taking his security seriously. He needed to have cause to consider the risk that the Romulan might present."

Takeru stepped into the room before they could continue, quickly explaining, "Jim's shuttle went silent approximately seven minutes ago. Two minutes ago Starfleet reestablished text-only communications when the shuttle claimed there was a glitch in the system . The shuttle contends the error is minor and should not affect their flight time, so there is no cause for concern.

"However, Captain Pike says he is unable to raise his security contact on the vessel. Number One says the secondary transmitter provided to the contact should continue to function despite the alleged error. She says the signal is being received by their contact's comm, but he is not answering."

Sarek stood and swept from the room with Takeru at his side while Amanda and Spock all but trotted behind to match their long strides. "Where are they now?"

"Pike and Number One have transported to the_ Enterprise_ and are quietly re-calling her crew in preparation for a rescue mission. They have contacted Admiral Moran, who refused to acknowledge that any problem could exist when her personal security makes up the force escorting Jim and his mother to Riverside. Because of this there will be no official action from Starfleet for approximately two hours. There is the chance that the crew will escape their confinement, or that whatever method employed to provide textual responses from the shuttle to answer Starfleet inquiries will fail, but I estimate the likelihood of either of these occurrences at below 0.2%.

"This means that Starfleet has failed to block space traffic to and from Earth, which would have been my preferred option for handling this situation. However, Pike has explained the matter to Admiral Archer who is attempting to create some sort of sensor malfunction so all traffic may be suspended despite this complication."

"D'Lhaes has always been impatient, he will have constructed his plan to allow him to depart with James immediately."

"In the last fifteen minutes six Romulan vessels have broken orbit and all departed in contrary directions."

Spock tried to interject, but their arrival at the embassy's transporter pad cut him off. Takeru stepped to the console and patched a message through to Pike, requesting clearance to beam aboard the _Enterprise_. Amanda and Spock both glared at Sarek when he looked like he was about to tell them not to join him on the transporter pad, so he didn't even attempt to stop them. Pike sent confirmation almost immediately and the four of them were whisked away.

Number One was waiting for them in the transporter room at the other end and didn't waste any time on exchanging hellos. "We've got security at customs going over anything suspicious the Romulans brought on board right before takeoff, but thus far we've got nothing to indicate which ship we should be tracking."

Spock tried to jump in again, but Number One was already out the door with Sarek and Takeru following behind. "There's no record of any shuttles departing Earth during the time frame we're looking at, and we've got an engineer checking transporter signatures to see if somehow they snuck Jim out through our sensor net."

They stepped onto the bridge and Spock spared just a moment to take in the long, sleek lines of the gleaming bridge of the Federation's flagship. He came back to himself when Number One continued, "Based off the ion trails, we've been able to project flight paths and we've got a few ships along those routes that might be able to help us play tag. Our communications officer is seeing if anyone has the time and the ability to interfere."

Pike shifted up from his captain's chair and said, "We've got a go from Admiral Archer. As soon as we've got something credible we have permission to give chase and to stop the ship."

Sarek gave a nod to Takeru, who stepped over to the communications console and began rapidly inputting coordinates. Sarek explained, "Given the known trajectories of the vessels at issue there are several Vulcan ships capable of giving chase as well." Most of the bridge crew paused at that announcement, stopping to stare at Sarek like they couldn't quite believe the efforts a Vulcan was going to for a missing human child. Number One cast a pointed glare around the bridge and got everyone back to work.

Pike grinned and gestured to the star map down by the ops station. "We've got the _Excelsior_ and the _Harbinger _en route to stop one of the ships. The _Harbinger_ is equipped with an experimental electromagnetic pulse generator that should be able to knock the ship out of warp. We've got the _Meridian_ on it way to ship number two, but they don't have the tech to interrupt the flight. A great engineer might be able to cobble something together, but the one stationed on the _Meridian_ isn't that good, so they're stuck chasing for the time being."

Sarek indicated to a spot on the map and said, "The Vulcan warship _Tar'hana_ is presently in this sector and should be able to rendezvous with the _Meridian_."

"Excellent, that narrows us down to just three and the _Enterprise_ can pick up the fourth."

"Father-" Spock tried to interrupt once again, but Number One interfered. "The _Andromeda_ says they can catch the third ship, but they'd appreciate a little backup. Do we have a Vulcan ship in the area?" Spock huffed out an impatient breath and left the adults to determine what vessel could interfere in time while he moved over to the uninhabited science console.

Amanda had been quietly watching the officials plan while her son got ignored. She saw Spock quietly raise the science officer's chair so he could be tall enough to properly use the console. Then he withdrew a small memory card from his pocket and injected it into a port port beside the screen before him. Amanda stepped over to Spock and watched as he steadily tapped in a string of basecode that began to override the ship's security system. He had to focus on the screen and keep typing, inputting new code to navigate around security procedures that popped up to block him.

Amanda gave a gentle squeeze to Spock's shoulder, silently gifting her approval to whatever made Spock think it was a good idea to break half a dozen Federation laws to hack the ship's system. He kept typing but cocked his head so she could hear him murmur to her, "How do you function in such a manner?"

"Spock?" she whispered back, momentarily confused.

"Human are always feeling things unrestrained by the serenity of logic. Jim felt terror that ripped straight through him, and there was nothing to strengthen him. He had no logic to rely on, and I was too overwhelmed to find some way to reach back and offer comfort."

"We survive with our emotions because, to humans, there is no other way. We draw comfort from the fight." She could tell from the tilted set to his shoulders that Spock was confused by her answer. "We find comfort in being alive. In striving and pushing even when logic suggest we lay down and let go." She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "Like a ten year old deciding to take matters into his own hands." Spock gave the slightest smirk, then finished opening the pathway to transfer his file from his memory card to the _Enterprise_ computer.

Spock ran his newly implanted software and came up with a set of coordinates that began flashing on the star chart that was claiming everyone's attention. Amanda stared at the light for a moment then suddenly realized the only way Spock could've come up with coordinates for their search, and couldn't help but grin and kiss her son on his forehead, much to his embarassment.

"Sarek-" Amanda turned excitedly and tried to interject, but her husband and the various members of the fleet were too busy trying to determine whether a Fleet vessel or a Vulcan vessel would be able to force one of the Romulan ships out of warp to notice.

"Sarek." She tried again, but the only people to notice were the cadets who stood uncomfortably to the side like watching their captain and an ambassador they had learned to be terrified of get along was rearranging the way they thought of the world.

"Sarek!" The whole bridge stopped at Amanda's snap, shocked that anyone, even his wife, would speak to the Vulcan ambassador that way. She gestured to Spock, "He'd been trying to tell you something, perhaps you should listen."

All eyes turned to Spock and he stuck out his chin just like Jim had taught him, "I implanted Jim with a tracking device."

Sarek actually looked stunned. "You what?"

"James was not taking his safety seriously, so I took matters into my own hands."

The rather stuffy scientist who was supposed to be manning the post where Spock currently sat (and not peering over Number One's shoulder to get Pike's attention) looked peeved that he'd been caught away from his station and sneered, "Tracking devices are only useful within in a finite distance and the ship we're hunting is far outside that range."

Takeru interrupted with such cool disdain that, frankly, Amanda was surprised the scientist's skin didn't melt off his bones. "Scientists at the Vulcan embassy have been working in conjunction with Starfleet Science to develop a long range tracking device. One of their prototypes was at the Embassy."

"Hold on," Number One's security lieutenant interrupted, "You illegally lo-jacked a Federation citizen with an experimental tracking device?"

Number One smacked him on the back of the head and said, "Don't discourage him! Do you know how much work it takes to get a Vulcan to be devious? Not to mention, the little Vulcan probably saved half a dozen lives from a Romulan dogfight."

"Quiet!" Pike interrupted. "Spock, do you have coordinates for us?"

The little Vulcan just raised an eyebrow and looked at the star chart, where a glittering blue dot was moving away from Earth at warp factor six. "It's heading towards the _Meridian_ and the _Tar'hana."_

"Can we catch them?" Spock asked.

Pike turned to Spock with a devilish grin and replied, "Thanks to you they've only got a fifteen minute head start. We could catch them with our eyes closed."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay, but I thought it might be better of me to delay putting this chapter out (with it's cliffhanger) until I was finished with the one to come after, which will probably be posted tomorrow. Happy reading!

* * *

Though Jim had only endured it once, he was pretty positive that he hated being kidnapped. On the shuttle he and Winona had been playing poker with some of Moran's security detail, with all of them betting candy bars and Jim stalwartly ignoring that half the security team couldn't seem to stop themselves from watching Winona's legs in her slightly shorter than regulation skirt. All in all, Jim was having a good time. Spock had promised to comm him every day for the rest of their lives, and in the mean time Spock's birthday was only a few months away and Amanda had promised that they'd be able to visit one another then. Everything had been good, and calm, right up until phasers went off in the back of the cabin.

The officer beside Jim grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and shoved him under the table, drawing his phaser at the same time and taking shots. Jim heard the ring of phaser fire slashing through the compartment above the table. An officer crouched across the aisle pulled out his comm and tried to raise someone at Starfleet for backup or an emergency beamout, but all he got was static. Winona hit the ground quickly, taken down by one of the beams, and Jim scurried over to snatch her half-drawn phaser from her holster. The security officer who had shoved Jim into hiding ducked behind the bench beside Jim and stretched out his hand, yanking Jim back to the complete safety of the overturned table. Jim tried to lurch forward again, but the officer clamped an arm around his small shoulders and held Jim tight against his chest. Jim struggled to throw him off, but the officer just clenched him tighter. "She's alright, laddie." He hissed in Jim's ear. "You can tell what's being fired at ya by the heat o' the beams. These 're naught more n'stun."

Jim stilled, then nodded in reply that he wasn't too far gone in terror to listen to the Ensign. They both glanced around the room and realized that of the six officers traveling with them, only one other was still conscious for a fight. The Scottish officer beside Jim signaled to his counterpart to maintain cover fire and the man started to disembowel his phaser. "What are you doing?" Jim hissed.

"If I can backup th' power supply then I might be able to take 'em all out like with a grenade."

"Doesn't backing up the supply cause an _explosion_? Like the kind that would take out the whole back of the shuttle?"

"Aye, it can. But, if I only back it up to a certain point it should release only a blast powerful enough to knock 'em out, not blow a hole in the ship."

"Have you ever done this before?"

"Ahhh, no."

"Well then, I'm gonna shut up and let you focus."

"That'd be good lad."

Jim heard the telltale thump of what had to be the only other security officer dropping to the floor from a stray phaser blast. The Scot muttered something under his breath in a language that Jim didn't understand, but Jim was still positive that it was crass. Jim spun around and shot his scrounged phaser through the crack between the Scot muttered something else, probably about Jim putting his life in danger when he should've been hiding, but the man was too busy trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat to bother actually articulating a scolding that Jim could understand.

The Scot made a final wrenching motion to the phaser guts, trying to power the phaser to a point where it would do the job without killing them all in the process, and when lobbed over their shoulders was a small, metal sphere. The man cursed, "Bloody Hell!" before he threw himself towards the machine, whether hoping to disable it or absorb the blast Jim couldn't tell.

There was a moment of pain, and then the whole world went grey. Jim clutched on to consciousness for a few extra seconds, and then he felt the transporter beam tug on him, pulling him away from safety and straight to the Romulan with the greedy eyes, and Jim tried not to scream as the world slipped into black.

Jim had woken up here, in this tiny, dingy little cell, staring at the patterns the shifting red light made along the walls. He groaned to himself and shifted uncomfortably on the sheet of metal posing as a bed. "Ow..." he groaned to himself, stretching out on the smooth surface and checking to make sure all his parts were still working. He didn't think he'd been out for more then a few minutes, since his lengthy bouts of unconsciousness were usually followed by a blinding headache, and he didn't have one of those. (Jim never thought those failed run ins with Mr. Carson's security fence would turn out to be useful.)

Before panic could take him over, Jim paused for a minute to remember the few lessons Sarek had been able give him on mediation and tried to calm himself down. He curled up on the metal slab, pulling his knees up to his chest and tucking in on himself so he was wrapped tightly in a ball.

Breath in through the nose, out through the mouth, long slow breaths to focus on the point his breath left his body and joined the universe. His mind stayed on that moment and no other, letting his breaths and his thoughts shift outside him, just like Sarek had taught him. Sarek had explained that with true meditation your awareness was supposed to expand to fill the whole universe, connecting you to everything and granting some understanding all of it, but Jim couldn't stop himself from thinking about Spock. As selfish as it was, and as dangerous, Jim wished he wasn't sitting here alone.

Jim sat there and breathed, letting his mind drift away from the dank little room his body was trapped in. He stretched and reached until he found a ball of light and peace that he recognized.

#######

Spock had poised himself at the science station and had merely glared at Pike's science officer when that man had made to return to his post. The officer had turned to whine to his captain, Pike but just fixed the man with a glare that said he'd shut up or he'd find himself transferred inside the next two hours. The rest of the crew seemed willing and eager to ride off into the stars to track down the missing son of a hero, and frankly, most of them were looking for a fight. If he was being honest, Pike was pretty excited about that part too.

He figured they'd find the Romulan vessel and then Pike would drop Spock down into the captain's chair so the little Vulcan could have a front row seat to Chris finally pulling his weight on Jim's behalf. Number One, Takeru, and even Sarek were the ones who kept swooping in and saving Jim from the chaos that seemed to follow him everywhere, and now it was Chris' turn. Deep down in his bones Pike got the feeling that Spock was going to be tied to Jim for the rest of his long life, and Chris wanted to prove he could be trusted for the duration. Chris thought that this time he'd step up and take the hits... and then Spock dropped to the floor.

He clutched his head and thrashed in pain, pitching himself off the chair and crashing hard to the deck. Before Pike could so much as blink, Sarek was there, moving with a speed that Pike was pretty sure had never been in any official documents about Vulcan physiology. Sarek reached out and braced his hand against the face of his seizing son. Rumor and myth informed Pike it was a mind meld, and Pike was too terrified at what it meant to Spock's health to be honored that he was seeing one.

The pressure in Spock's mind was all consuming, swallowing up his logic in the crush of emotion. He knew the powerful echo of Jim's thoughts, but it was more than powerful now, it was deafening. Sarek had never taught Jim how to touch another's mind, so Jim reaching Spock was accidental, and violent. It was only a moment of blinding pain, and then Sarek was on him, reaching into Spock's mind and establishing controls, drawing lines between the boys' minds, and releasing the pressure.

Spock felt Jim's rush of delight at what the boy thought was simply finding some peace, then with his new clarity Spock asked, _Jim?_

#######

Still trapped on a Romulan ship at the other end of their connection Jim's eyes snapped open. He looked around the room in confusion, wondering if this was a sign he'd gone crazy from confinement. It didn't look like there was a speaker in the room, or any Romulans tucked in a corner pretending to be his best friend just to be mean.

Jim sucked in a long breath then plunged back into his mind, going straight for the ball of bright light and serenity that was apparently Spock. _Um... hi?_

Jim felt what he was pretty sure was the mental equivalent of a relieved sigh and Spock replied, _Are you well?_

_If by 'well' you mean kidnapped but not dead, then yeah, I'm well._

_Do not fear, Jim. We are on our way to retrieve you._

_On your- how in the... the transmitter_.

_Indeed._ Spock replied in what was really a rather smug mental tone.

_Well that turned out to be useful pretty quick._

If Spock's mind would've had the dexterity to roll it's eyes, Jim was positive it would have. _You are-_

_Spock, Right now I'm trying really hard not to freak out. Considering that the way I might hypothetically be special a la __svitan-nel-dath__could be to die and finally trigger war between the Federation and the Empire, I would really like to not talk about that right now._

Jim felt indulgence, then Spock replied, _You are right, it would be logical to discuss more practical matters. Where are you on their ship?_

#######

The whole bridge crew was at a standstill, staring at a scene before them that every professor, story, and footnote made out to be a holy right. They watched as the most terrifying of Vulcans crouched over the strewn body of his only child and waited. When the little Vulcan unleashed a deep sigh and his mouth very nearly quirked into a smile, the whole bridge breathed a sigh of relief.

But when Spock spoke, they all froze again. "Captain Pike, based on his accomodations Jim believes he is in the ship's brig."

Pike flicked his eyes over to Amanda for a moment, and judging from her expression this wasn't a skill she knew about either. "Is..." Pike cleared his throat, "Is he ok?"

"He says he is cold and that he is upset the Romulans interrupted his... poker game."

In the back of Spock's mind Jim giggled, _I'm impressed. You didn't even sound like you disapproved of that._

_Infinite diversity in infinite combinations is to be sought by all Vulcans._ Jim just snorted in reply.

"Hold on," the irritating science officer interrupted, "How do we know this isn't just some Romulan trick."

Spock could feel Jim rolling his eyes. _Is this guy pissy for a reason, or does Chris let idiots run around on his ship?_

_I believe this man was the science officer under the previous captain and Pike has yet to find a suitable replacement. Despite the obvious flaws with his temper his is imminently qualified for the post. _

Pike turned to the officer in question and glared at him. "Are you saying we should demand proof from him or something?"

Spock felt what could only be termed as an evil grin and replied, _Perfect. Tell Chris that if that's the kind of pansy they let serve on the flagship I'm not signing up_.

"Jim!" Spock hissed, not realizing he did it aloud as well as in his head.

"What?" Pike demanded. "Did something happen?"

Spock could feel the warmth of Pike as he leaned over to check on him. Striving to be as discrete as possible Spock opened his eyes and whispered, "Jim told me to tell you something inappropriate as proof."

But Pike wasn't paying attention to Spock's words, he was staring at his eyes. The soft brown shade of eyes that Spock usually turned to the world had been swallowed up in pure white. Before a member of his crew could peek over his shoulder and see something that the stiffening in Sarek's spine told Chris wasn't supposed to be there, he dropped his hand over Spock's face to block them.

Jim felt Spock's trepedation and asked, _What's wrong?_

_Something has unnerved Captain Pike._

_Us talking like this? 'Cause he's gonna need to get over that. This is awesome._

_I do not think- _and the red alert cut him off.

"Captain!" Number One shouted, "We've caught up to the Romulan ship. The _Meridian_ and the _Tar'hana_ are both waiting for our signal before they spring the trap sir."

Spock felt Sarek's mental tug telling him to withdraw. _I must depart Jim. I have required my father's extra discipline to maintain our conversation and he will be necessary at tactical._

_Tactical?_

_Yes. I presume they will first attempt your targeted beam out, and in the likely event that fails Takeru will accompany the strike team while my father remains here to inform Pike of the weaknesses of this variety of Romulan vessel._

_Do they teach a class on this stuff at the Science Academy?_

This time Jim was positive Spock smirked, _James, there is a reason my father is so highly regarded he was permitted to marry a human of his choosing. He has brought honor to the house of Surak in all possible ways._

_Wait, do you mean like... Klingon type ways?_

_I request we continue this conversation when you are aboard the _Enterprise_._

_Yeah, yeah, yeah. See you in a minute then?_ Jim asked with the slightest amount of trepidation.

_I approximate rescue will take 4.6 minutes._

_I'll be counting down._

Sarek felt the finality in Spock's thought's and broke the connection. Pike had already moved to the Captain's chair, claiming the full attention of his crew, leaving Sarek alone to see that his son's eyes had returned to the shade that mirrored his mother's.

Spock quirked an eyebrow, but Sarek gave a slight shake of the head, telling Spock this was a conversation they'd have later.

#######

As the _Enterprise_ rendezvoused with the other ships to spring a trap, Jim returned to his own body, still trapped in a cell in the bowels of a Romulan ship. He breathed deep and tried to think of something he could do to be useful for the fight that was coming. He stayed curled up in his ball on the metal table while he thought, keeping his face tucked into his legs, which is why the Romulan so diligently staring at Jim on the security feed never saw his eyes drift back to bright blue after being swallowed in black.


End file.
